In Drag
by Feisu
Summary: A recipe for unlikely rocky relationship: take part orphan drag racer, add an equal part aristocrat violinist, mix in a cup of wild relatives, sprinkle with some attitude, envy and jealousy, and hope that it does not blow up in your face. AU. COMPLETE
1. Ready, Set, Go

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M" **for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Ready, Set, Go**

The long-ago abandoned industrial site was more alive that night than it had been in its former life as a factory. Loud music boomed out of assorted speakers, most of which were located within the vast array of cars that populated the first floor. Multi-colored lights streaming from random bulbs accentuated the space, but did very little to help see. People mingled among cars, conglomerating in groups by ones that attracted their attention. Each proud owner of the car showcased the upgrades and customizations, each thinking that their car was the best.

Excited chatter washed through the crowd as screens suspended from mobile stations or integrated into trucks showed a car fly off the street into a ditch. To the side of the epicenter of the crowd, a station filled with electronic devices was occupied by a man with short red spiky hair. Police radios escaped his attention, as it was fully devoted to the four girls who entwined their long legs and arms around his body, their lips traveling alongside any exposed skin.

"Maedo! Stop the fucking orgy and get back to your job, the last thing we need is to pack this whole shit up like the last time," a voice from the crowd ripped the man out of his state of euphoria. He grunted in displeasure, but started to disconnect himself from the scantily-clad girls.

"Scoot." He waved his hand in furtherance of the gesture, turning his full attention to the radios and locations of the local police cruisers.

The crowd roared as three sets of headlights appeared in the empty road that ended at the site. Their attention kept jumping between the live cams broadcasted on the screens and the actuall cars approaching at a dangerous speed. Silver-blue patterned Mitsubishi closed up the ranks, with two super cars going head to head ahead of it: red Lamborghini Reventon and bullet gray Ferrari Enzo. The crowd along the street and at the finish line roared as the two contestants neared. It was always the same - unless there was another worthy opponent, the two super cars would come up to the finish line head to head, only one of them pulling first. Today it was the Enzo.

The cheering crowd surrounded the cars as soon as they came to a halt, breaks screeching, smoke from the burning rubber momentarily hiding the slick machines from the view. Mitsubishi's door opened, revealing a silver stiletto heel, followed by the rest of the toned female body clad in a plaid mini skirt and a black tank top. Her long blonde hair with dark green highlights was pulled up in random spikes, clipped by silver hairpins. She left the door open and walked towards the two super cars. A dark-haired man with a goatee appeared from the Reventon, slammed the door and walked up to his friends. He was clearly agitated by the loss, despite the compassion landing in both of his arms in the form of giggling girls. The car that came through the finish line first revealed a figure dressed in dark blue jeans and black leather racing jacket. The winner got the same warm reception from surrounding women as the losing man, only in larger quantity.

Mitsubishi's driver reached the winner and stood a few feet away, grinning.

"Not bad," the winner praised with a smile, simultaneously shaking the wanton girls off. "Not bad at all for a newbie."

"I don't think I've ever felt this rush, I see why you love it so, Haruka," the woman responded, returning an elated smile.

Haruka laughed and put an arm around the woman's waist. A passing boy handed them beers, as they made their way out of the crowded area towards some concrete slabs suitable for sitting surface.

"It's not just the winning for me, Eiko, it's the wind. I love the feeling."

Eiko took a seat, twisting the cap off her bottle. "A romantic? That was the last thing I would expect from you, Haruka. Here I thought it was all about money and popularity for you."

Haruka gave the spunky woman another irresistible smile. "I don't see how one is against the other. To me they go hand in hand."

"Naturally," the shorter blonde laughed.

"Eiko! That was great, you should do it again!" They both turned at the sound of excited boyish voice.

"Ah, the mighty Maedo Hiro!" Eiko cheered sweetly. "Thanks for letting me borrow your car." She jumped off and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Any time, as I said, I think you should do it again."

"Maybe one day," the woman replied cryptically.

"I believe you have something for me," Haruka reminded the red-haired man.

Hiro scratched the back of his head, pretending trying to remember what it was. "Oh, that's right, you won! How surprising!" Hiro passed the cash he was holding behind his back. "Spend it wisely, who knows, maybe I'll beat you next time!"

"In your dreams." Haruka ruffled his short spiky hair with a grin.

Soon the three of them were surrounded by people, girls clinging to Haruka. The attraction didn't come solely from the winning status, it had a lot to do with the tall, lean frame of the winner, the light blonde, almost white hair streaked with silver, and dark blue-gray eyes. Not to mention the air of mystery. Eiko was watching the interactions between the popular racer and the fans, while sipping on her drink. When the crowd's attention shifted to something else and they were left alone again, Eiko made her move. "I like you, Haruka."

Haruka looked into light blue eyes, trying to see where this was going. They had met a few weeks ago, when the woman appeared at one of the street races. She seemed to make friends fast, so much so that Hiro was willing to let her drive his car as a trial. She did surprisingly well, she was also extremely attractive, but she was different from the rest of the girls there. Haruka was trying to pinpoint what it was, but still could not define it. The woman was definitely intriguing.

"You speak your mind, you're sure of yourself, you're a winner," Eiko smiled at the confused racer. "I want you to take my daughter out."

Haruka stared. "Sorry, I'm not into that."

"Not into what?" Eiko asked, confused.

"Pedophilia," Haruka responded slowly. "I don't date kids."

Eiko broke into fits of laughter. "My daughter is twenty-three, Haruka."

It was hard to believe that Eiko had a daughter, it was impossible for her to have a twenty-three year old daughter. She looked like she was in her early thirties at most. Her spark was that of an eighteen year old. "You are pulling my leg, right?"

"No, I'm being completely serious. I want you to take my daughter out on a date."

"Why?" Was the first thing Haruka could force out.

"She's very shy, boring and a bit of a prude. She needs someone to show her the fun side of life."

Haruka could not believe what this woman was saying. Even if that was all true, why would anyone ever want to go on a date with a shy, boring, prude girl? It was time to politely blow Eiko off.

"It may come as a shock, but I,m a woman," Haruka used her trademark rejection line. It worked a lot.

"Of course."

Eiko was full of surprises. "Yet you still want me to take your daughter out?"

"Yes."

"Is she a lesbian?"

Eiko wrinkled her perky nose. "I don't know. She's a virgin through and through. I don't think even she knows who she likes."

Those were words of a mother? Haruka must have been dreaming. This whole conversation must have been composed by her sick imagination. "Sorry, I don't do blind dates."

Eiko sighed out loud. "I'll pay you for it."

Haruka's eyes widened in surprise. Exactly how desperate was this woman? "I definitely do not accept money for my dates, I'm not a prostitute."

"I never said you were," Eiko gave her a small pleading smile.

Haruka kept looking at the woman, thinking of her bizarre request. What did she have to lose in the end? Some time? She had a lot of that. It could become a good story to tell to her unenumerated friends later on. "Fine. One date, but keep in mind I don't do relationships."

"Fantastic!" Eiko placed a kiss on Haruka's cheek in gratitude. "Give me your phone number, I'll give you a buzz when I come up with something specific." She extended her phone to Haruka.

Haruka narrowed her eyes. "This isn't just a long way to get my number, is it?"

Eiko laughed at the younger woman. "No, sweetie, it's not. No offense, but you're not my type. Although we could have had a lot of fun together, had I met you when I was your age." She shamelessly winked at her. Haruka swallowed and typed her phone number into Eiko's phone.

"Great, now have you seen my coat?" Eiko pulled Haruka in search of her clothing item.

**x x x**

Michiru was curled up on the couch in the dark living room, looking at the digital screen of her watch. This is why she was happy she did not have any siblings - sometimes she felt like she was the adult and her mother was the child. Actually, she felt like that most of the time. She was falling asleep around midnight, but that had passed and now she was fully awake and set on confronting her mother. She had no idea what went through that woman's head most of the time. Her ears perked up at the tiny sound coming from the back of the house. '_Sneaking in like a criminal, mother?'_ Michiru turned towards the staircase, waiting for the woman to appear.

Eiko stealthily made her way through the dim hallway, heading for the stairs. Knowing her surroundings perfectly well, she managed not to trip on the myriad of statutes that decorated the house, despite her slightly euphoric state.

"Mother."

Eiko turned towards the voice. "Good Evening, Michi," she smiled at her daughter in the darkness.

"Evening? It's four o'clock in the morning!" Michiru flipped a lamp on the side table on. "Where have you been?"

"Out," Eiko walked around the couch, so that Michiru would not have to twist like a pretzel to see her.

"I gather that much." Michiru took in the view in front of her. Her mother was wearing suede silver-heeled boots, a black silk coat that she was clutching tight and her hair… was pulled up in a mess of green-tinted spikes. "What happened to your hair?"

"I decided to try something new, don't you like it?" Eiko smiled in mirth.

"No." Michiru did not share her mother's good mood. "For your sake I hope that it is temporary and will be gone by the time Hideo wakes up."

"Don't worry sweetheart, I'm not stupid," Eiko grew serious.

"Really? What would happen if he woke up right now?" Michiru cocked an eyebrow.

"I would pretend like I wanted to do some role-playing." Eiko opened her coat wide, showing Michiru her semi-school-girl outfit.

"Jesus Christ, mother!" Michiru was appalled. "You look like a prostitute!"

"Dear, you haven't seen what prostitutes look like, I don't nearly have enough makeup on."

Michiru threw her head back in disbelief. Her mother never stopped to amaze her; not in a good way either. She returned her head back to its original position and sat straight with a perfect posture. "May I remind you that your husband is asleep upstairs and he will have a heart attack if he sees you this way?"

"When did you start to care about my husband, Michiru?"

"I don't, it's not about him, it's about us. As you correctly pointed out when you married him, we need him to keep this family afloat. Your actions will destroy the angelic front you created for him, showing your true colors, which will disillusion him and make him leave us in the dump we deserve to be in."

Eiko put her hand on top of Michiru's head. "Don't worry sweetie, he is not the only politician in this city, there are more where he came from."

"Once a gold digger, always a gold digger, mother," Michiru whispered.

Eiko withdrew her hand as though she was touching a snake. "For someone who insists that she has nothing in common with me, you sure do have a vile mouth. I wonder where that came from." Eiko walked towards the stairs, stopping before the first step in thought and turning to face her daughter again. "I married your father because I loved him, not because of his money. I was the same idealist you are now, but that changed in the past twenty-five years. What I do now I do for myself, Michiru, not forgetting to provide for you in the process. Live a little, maybe then you will understand where I'm coming from." She turned around and walked up the stairs.

Michiru sat in silence brewing on her mother's words. She knew her mother was not as sinful as she may have seemed, but her behavior was still outrageous. Eiko may have been naive and in love twenty-five years ago, but Michiru did not know that woman because she was not born yet. Michiru knew the woman who married a politician for his connections and abilities to support a family, a woman who was forward and unstoppable in any endeavor she put her mind to. A woman Michiru wanted to never become.

Eiko took a long shower before crawling in her empty cold bed. There were pros to having separate bedrooms with one's spouse, such as the ability to go in and out at one's whim, but there were also cons, such as being alone every night. Eiko did not like to be alone, she yearned for warmth, care, attention - things her current husband lacked and previous husband displayed only before he started drinking himself into oblivion. No longer getting what she needed from her marriages, Eiko has been in constant pursuit of thrill in other venues, street racing being her latest foray.

She smiled at the memory of the race. It was enthralling, it made her feel alive, let her be herself. She wished she could just let go of everything and live her life the way she wanted it, the way her heart desired. She could not. She would never allow herself that so long as her actions affected her daughter's life, and they always would. After all, she had a family name to uphold. Despite all that, she wanted Michiru to live, to feel a range of emotions beyond those she had trained herself to feel over the years, never letting anyone close. Eiko needed a miracle for her daughter and tonight she thought she found one. The miracle's name was Tenoh Haruka and she existed in the world that would never collide with Michiru's; after all, underground people and socialites did not exactly mingle. Eiko intended to change that. She fell asleep with a mysterious smile on her lips.

**x x x**

Haruka watched the last truck disappear in the morning fog. It was quiet, although her ears still felt like they were in a vacuum. It was a good night: no one got hurt and no one got caught. As the dust settled in the auto column's wake, Haruka did a last walk through, making sure that no evidence of the past night was left at the scene.

Haruka was one of the veteran members of the Wing of Night, the most successful street racing gang since the Mid Night Club had been disbanded. The primary purpose of the gang was to host the races, but a deeper insight into the structure of the club revealed a well-oiled machine. The Wing of Night had tomes of rules and regulations, which were incongruous to an illegal operation. They covered everything from the types of races to who could participate in each level of activity. The party scene that ensued at every race could be disbanded in an organized manner within a matter of minutes - a fact that had saved the club's members and those who associated with the gang from being caught on numerous occasions. Fortunately, none of the emergency protocols had to be implemented tonight.

Satisfied that the abandoned factory showed virtually no traces of its short comeback to life, Haruka got in her car and drove towards the city. As most people started to wake for their day, it was time for the racer to go to bed.


	2. Boredom

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M" **for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Boredom**

"And you agreed to it?" Hiro looked at his friend in astonishment. "Man you're nuts."

"Why?" Haruka asked as she wiped her hands on a blue rag.

"You can have any girl you want, why the hell would you go on a blind date with some prude?" Hiro set the magazine he suddenly lost all interest in on the counter.

Haruka shrugged. "I'm bored."

"How do you find time to be bored?" the young man mused.

"It's all the same… I need some spice in life." Haruka threw the rag on a set of tool chests and closed the hood of her Enzo.

"Dude, prude equals bland, not spicy. Did you bang your head in the car last night?"

"You're not getting my point," Haruka sighed leaning against the front of the car.

"You can say that again."

"I can have anything I want, at least as far as girls go, from your own statement."

"Uh hm."

"That's boring." She smiled at him evilly. "I want what I can't have."

"Okay…" Hiro swayed his head side to side waiting for more, but nothing else came. "That may be so, but why would you want someone who's boring?"

"Who knows, maybe she has a devil hidden in her. You know, it's the quiet ones that usually come up with the best surprises."

Hiro grinned, his dirty mind spinning towards the students of all-girl schools, some of whom he knew for a fact to be that way. Haruka laughed, disconnecting herself from the car. She walked up to the dazed man who seemed oblivious to her movement, picked up the magazine and threw it down, making him jump as a result. "What the fuck, dude?" Hiro looked at her in annoyance.

"Don't daydream at work," she replied with a toothy grin.

"Whatever," Hiro picked up the offending literature and stuck it in the drawer behind the counter. "It's not like we have any customers." He looked at the empty car shop, the Enzo and his own Mitsubishi Eclipse being the only cars there.

"It's not like we only fix cars here," Haruka grew serious. "Watch the front, I'm gonna go check out what the popular vote decided for our next venue."

"Good luck."

"Why?"

Hiro gestured towards the clock. "It's only one o'clock. The masses are still asleep, not everyone can survive on as little sleep as you do… and make me do."

"I didn't make you work here, you came to _me_. I think it had something to do with paying rent." Haruka opened the back door and threw him a last glance. "Besides, most of those people have to be back at work by nine."

"It's Saturday…" Hiro knew she didn't hear him, nor did he really care. No matter what he said, she would not listen, he just said things to keep himself occupied.

**x x x  
**

Michiru opened her eyes to the full sun in the sky and happily chirping birds. She grunted and put her head under the pillow. That did nothing to eliminate neither the sound nor the light. She banged her fist on the pillow on top of her head, but that did not seem to better the situation.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up." This time she was banging her head against the mattress. It was pointless, there was no more sleep coming her way. She got up and dragged herself to the bathroom. It was all her mother's fault. Not only did the woman get home at four in the morning, but her little speech did not let Michiru fall asleep for hours afterwards. She felt like she did not sleep at all. She pushed the hot water on and stepped under the shower, not bothering to wait for it to warm up. The cold water did the trick of waking her up, while the hot water that followed warmed up her trembling body. Unfortunately, it did nothing to her mood - it was still as crappy as it had been ten minutes ago. After pulling a random dress out of her closet, Michiru put it on, made sure her hair looked appropriate, and made her way downstairs.

"Ah, sweetie, you are just in time for lunch," her mother sang from the sofa where she was reading a fashion magazine, her husband was reading a newspaper nearby.

Michiru tried to hide both her annoyance and incomprehension of how her mother was always able to pull herself together in the morning, like she had a full night's sleep. She was dressed in a lavender summer dress, her blonde hair - all green gone - was pulled in a tight bun, her face refreshed and devoid of any darkness under her beautiful light blue eyes.

'_How the hell does she do it?' _Michiru thought before forcing a nonchalant smile for her picture-perfect mother and stepfather.

"Good Morning, Michi, did you sleep well?" Hideo asked, putting his newspaper down.

Michiru cringed internally at the use of her pet name which she preferred to reserve for her special people, i.e. her family, which, in her eyes, he was not a part of. She sat down on the same sofa she occupied last night and graced him with a polite answer. "No, unfortunately, I had some nightmares."

"I'm sorry to hear that darling, anything bothering you?" Hideo seemed to be genuinely concerned.

"No, just some strange dream about a school girl visiting this house." Michiru gave her mother a brilliant smile, the warning in light blue eyes not escaping her. "Must have been my brain's recollection of my school years."

"Oh." Hideo assumed that Michiru had issues being away from home when she attended boarding school based on that explanation. His wife wearing an outfit in any way resembling that of a school girl would never visit his brain: awake or asleep.

"Lunch is served," their housekeeper announced from the dining room. All three rose and proceeded to the room adjacent to the common area. The food seemed to make Michiru feel a little better, until Hideo mentioned a function they were required to attend that night.

"It's a private function which will host the cream of the crop and I need my beautiful ladies to be there." He smiled at both women sitting at the table.

Michiru felt like her day was wasted as it was, so she did not care either way. Eiko, on the other hand, saw a perfect opportunity just knock on the door. "What time is it at?"

"Eight."

She smiled at her daughter. "I guess you and I have some shopping to do."

The idea really didn't make Michiru feel all warm and fuzzy. Last time they went shopping for a dress together, Eiko ended up trying to change Michiru's wardrobe with something that teenagers wore. Michiru's only hope was that the term 'private function' would keep her mother within the bounds of reason. "Of course," she replied finally.

**x x x**

As soon as the lunch was over and Michiru went to get ready for their shopping spree, Eiko slipped into one of the far rooms and pulled out her cellphone. She almost held her breath as the phone rang three times without answer.

"Tenoh," a husky voice finally answered from the other side of the line.

"Haruka? This is Eiko." She edged closer to the window, watching her husband attend to his only hobby - gardening.

"Who?"

Eiko's full attention was directed back to the phone. "Eiko, remember, last night?" How could she forget?

"Last night?" came confused reply.

Eiko pulled he phone away from her ear and stared at the screen, making sure she dialed the right 'Tenoh,' although she was quite sure there was only one 'TH' in her phone.

"Oooh, E-i-k-o," came out of the receiver before she got a chance to bring it back. "Sorry, I was in the middle of something. Of course I remember you, how can I forget a mother that came to sell her daughter to the underworld?"

Eiko sighed in relief. That was definitely the Tenoh she was calling. "Yes, that would be me."

"What can I do you for?" Haruka replied in mirth.

"I came up with specifics." Eiko heard a low whistle from the other end.

"Didn't take you long."

"Opportunity came knocking."

"I'm sure it did. I'm listening."

"My family is attending a private function tonight, I would like you to escort my daughter there."

"What kind of function?" All sarcasm was gone from Haruka's voice.

"I don't know… some political private function. A ball or something." Eiko listened to the prolonged silence.

"For someone who called with 'specifics' you sure don't seem to have much," Haruka finally replied.

"I meant of when and where, not of how and all that other stuff," Eiko grimaced, even though Haruka could not see her.

"I see." Another pause. "What is the dress code for this _function_?"

"Um… formal, I suppose. A tux would be great." It dawned on her for the first time. "Do you own a tux?"

"Would that stop you?"

"Will that stop _you_?"

"Is that a challenge?" Eiko heard a smile in her voice.

"It is if you need one," she smiled back.

"I'm a racer, Eiko, I thrive on challenge."

"Then I challenge you to make my daughter get interested in you." She knew that was not what they had originally agreed on, but, another opportunity simply happened to knock on her door.

Haruka laughed out loud. "You were right when you said that we would have had a lot of fun if we met when you were… up to having fun with somebody my age." She gave it a last thought. "It's a deal. Where and when?"

"Tonight, eight, I'll text you the address. I'll leave your name for the butler, find me in the crowd."

**x x x  
**

Haruka stopped her car under the portico of the large mansion and heard the door open before she even got a chance to reach out for the handle.

"Good Evening, sir."

Haruka got out and nodded to the impeccably dressed valet. She took a ticket from his hand and walked towards the steps leading to large double-doors. There used to be a time in her life when she could only dream of coming to a place like this; today she felt nauseated by the open display of wealth the place and its occupants provided. The man, who she assumed was a butler, looked up from the clipboard he was holding and bowed slightly. "Do you have an invitation, sir?"

"No, but my name should be on your list. Tenoh Haruka." She watched him flip through the pages.

"Yes, sir, please come in and enjoy the evening." The man opened the door and let her inside.

'More icky-ticky stuff,' she thought as she took in the vast surroundings decorated in stone and bronze. Taking her mind off of the distasteful house, she concentrated on finding what she came there for: a certain blue-eyed blonde. Haruka passed through the buffet-style tables and entered the ballroom where people seemed to get past their dinners and on to other entertainments, despite the fact that she was only fashionably late. It was just nine.

Haruka surveyed the crowd and wondered what a woman like Eiko would do there. All those people were stuck up and boring… in their perfect outfits, perfectly elegant, perfectly polite. Vanilla. Those people were vanilla, Eiko had spice in her. Why did she not stand out in that crowd? The green lowlights by themselves should have been noticed at this point, yet they were nowhere to be seen. Haruka sighed and grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. Maybe alcohol would make it look a little better.

A glass and a half later her surroundings were as dull as when she was fully sober. She was no longer amused by the search and decided that she would leave once the glass was empty. Two exposed backs caught her attention: one was hidden in a black chiffon dress half-way down, while the other was exposed almost to the tiny lower back, where soft yellow silk covered the rest of the shapely figure. The black dress was shorter, but much more conservative than the floor-length yellow one, and belonged to a woman with a peculiar sea-green hair. Taut ringlets of curly hair escaped from the updo, falling softly to a long porcelain neck. The yellow dress belonged to a blonde woman, whose hair was also pulled up, but in a perfectly smooth wave. The blonde turned and Haruka tried to hide her surprise: who knew that anyone could wash up so nicely.

**x x x  
**

Michiru was standing next to her mother, listening to Hideo's conversation with some businessman and his wife. She was bored out of her brain, but no one would ever be able to tell that from the look of sincere interest on her face. Her mother went further than that, not only did she look interested, she actually contributed to the conversation. It was one thing Michiru never denied sharing with her mother - the skills of an actress. To the world they were Eiko and Michiru Kaioh - the only women left in the aristocratic Kaioh line, the perfect ladies deserving of their name. Upholding that image took a lot of skills, most of which had to do with constantly lying and pretending to be someone they were not, a job both women managed perfectly well.

Michiru watched as the conversation came to its end and the couple parted from their family. Her mother turned in their wake and her face lit up. Michiru followed Eiko's gaze, wondering what trouble her mother was about to deposit into Michiru's lap. Her eyes fell on a tall, lanky blonde man in an impeccable black tux and white shirt. He smiled at her mother and Michiru's breath caught from the impact of the dazzling smile.

"Tenoh-san," Eiko sang, looping her hand through her husband's arm.

Haruka was about to respond when she realized that she did not know Eiko's last name. "Good Evening!" she bowed to all three people instead.

"Hideo, Michiru, I want you to meet a friend of mine." Eiko motioned for Haruka to come closer. "This is Tenoh Haruka." She gestured towards her family. "This is my husband, Shimizu Hideo, and my daughter, Kaioh Michiru." Eiko watched her daughter's reaction from underneath her long lashes.

Michiru gained her composure back without any difficulty, giving her mother's _friend_ a cool smile. Since when did her mother have friends that were more likely… Michiru's age? She gritted her teeth, knowing where this was going. Her mother was doing it again! Trying to set her up with someone! Michiru just wished for them to leave her alone, but both Eiko and Hideo seemed to be bothered by her single status, so they kept setting up dates for her. Michiru herself was absolutely sure that it would never work because each and every person she met did not make her feel an ounce of attraction or curiosity towards them. She would much prefer for them to give up.

"Pleasure," a low husky voice brought her back to reality.

'_Not for long,' _Michiru sang to herself. "How do you know each other?" She figured it was an appropriate question to ask at a social event.

"We run in the same circles," Haruka answered, sipping on her champagne.

'_I wonder what circles would those be, mother.'_ Michiru was going to ask something along those lines, but Hideo beat her to the punch.

"Strange, our paths have never crossed." He eyed the young man wearily. "Are you into politics?"

"Occasionally." One thing Haruka really did not like to do was lie; of all the sins she had committed in her life, being untruthful was the one she went out of the way to avoid. Truth a lot of times could be told, so long as it was cryptic.

"What do you do?" Hideo kept pressing.

"I'm a consultant."

"What kind of consultant?"

"Financial." Haruka checked the list of things she did in her head to make sure that finance was one of them.

"Who do you work for?"

'Man, I didn't even touch his daughter and he is interrogating me like I'm intending to marry her.' Haruka shivered at the thought. "I do private consulting and my clients rarely wish to be identified."

'_She's good.'_ Eiko was watching the exchange, realizing that she knew nothing about the blonde beyond her night occupation and her personality, but starting to respect her ability to lie on the spot. Although, Eiko did not know if she was really lying.

"I see." Hideo still was not satisfied, but did not seem to be able to break through the front.

"Tenoh-san!"

Haruka jerked her head at the familiar voice. She spotted a number of people she knew around the room as she was looking for Eiko, but she managed to avoid them seeing her, apparently until now. "Ishida-san." She bowed to an older man.

"Funny to run into you here," Ishida said evenly.

"Likewise," Haruka said lowly, intending for only him to hear.

"You two know each other?" Hideo asked. Ishida was one of the politicians Hideo dealt with daily.

"Yes…" Ishida gave Haruka a quick, unsure look.

"We did some business together," Haruka finished for him evenly.

"I see," Hideo managed to reply with a lot less concern in his voice.

"Darling, should we dance?" Eiko decided that it was time to get the party started.

"Of course, sweetheart." They excused themselves and moved to the floor.

"Well, I guess I need to find my date." Ishida gave Haruka a long glance before leaving.

Haruka gulped the rest of her champagne down and passed her glass to a waiter who appeared from nowhere. She looked at the woman in front of her in assessment. She stayed quiet the whole time except for that original question, so Haruka could not really make any judgment from that perspective. From the other perspective… the woman was beautiful. Her blue eyes were a shade darker than her mother's, they reminded Haruka of an ocean depth. Her hair was peculiar and reminded Haruka of seaweed, making the woman in front of her a… mermaid? Haruka chuckled against her better judgment.

"You find me amusing?" Michiru looked at her companion that she already tagged as boring the minute he started telling Hideo what he did.

"Not at all." Haruka wiped the smile off her face. "Shall we dance?"

Michiru nodded and followed the blonde to the dance floor. A waltz was playing which, to Michiru's surprise, her partner led her through without any hesitation. She stole a glance at him from the side; he was very handsome. His hair and his eyes caught her attention the most, it was such a contrast. It was like a silver-white moon on a dark blue, cloudy sky. At the moment, however, those eyes seemed to dash all over the room in search of something.

"Am I boring you?"

"Excuse me?" Haruka stopped her search of any other unexpected acquaintances and turned to face her dance partner.

"You look bored."

"I am bored."

"Am I boring you?"

"This place is boring me."

"Really?" Michiru was surprised by the absence of any deceptions. "Then why did you come?"

Haruka looked into the ocean eyes before answering. "To see you."

'_Wow… an honest one? Let's see how long that lasts.'_ Michiru stilled for a moment before catching up with the rhythm again. "Why did you come to see me?"

"Your mother asked me to."

"_Two for two. Shocking.'_ Michiru brewed on what to do with an honest setup date. "How exactly do you know my mother?"

"As I mentioned before, we run-"

"In the same circles, yes I heard." She gave him a fake smile. "Which circles would those be?"

Haruka looked at the girl in her hands for a long while; maybe there really was more to her than an eye could see. "Would you like me to show you?"


	3. Worlds Apart

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Worlds Apart**

Michiru considered the proposition. She has never approved of her mother's behavior, but that did not mean she wasn't curious. No, she wanted to know why her forty-one-year-old mother behaved like she was a teenager. This was a perfect opportunity to do so, albeit with a total stranger. Then again, her mother said that he was a friend, so if anything happened to Michiru, her family would know where to start looking.

'Oh, what the hell.' She ended her internal argument. "Lead the way."

Haruka hid her surprise, she didn't expect the woman to go through with the offer, but, even better that she did then. "Would you like to say goodbye to your parents?"

"My mother will connect the dots." Michiru avoided any reference to Hideo as her 'parent.'

Haruka gave Michiru a last chance to change her mind by mentally counting to ten. "Okay then." She turned around and pulled her new companion towards the exit.

Michiru tried to make her heart stop racing, she all of a sudden felt like a school girl skipping out on her class. Well, skipping out on her class was about the worst thing Michiru has ever done in her life, so she compared many things to that experience. She followed the blonde to the valet and waited for the car to come. She did not know what she expected to see, but the bullet-gray car came as a surprise. She watched in amusement as the door came up instead of opening towards her, until her mind began to wonder how she would sit so low without making a mess out of herself in high heels and the short skirt that barely reached her knees.

"That over there is a passenger seat, you slide into it and relax for the ride." Haruka got tired of watching Michiru stare at her car.

"Right." Michiru held the bottom of her hem as she tried to lower herself down. _'It's the 'slide' part that doesn't come easy when you're a girl, you genius.'_

Haruka watched as black pointy shoes disappeared and closed the door. She walked around the car and eased herself in the driver's seat. "You may want to put the seatbelt on."

"Of course." Michiru blushed slightly as she reached to find the strap. She was mildly amused by the bright yellow color of the seat inserts and the same yellow stitching on the rest of the black leather interior, it did not seem fitting for a boring financial consultant, although she had to admit that it looked quite nicely contrasted by black dashboard and bullet gray exterior. "You have a lovely car."

Haruka's jaw dropped momentarily before she forced it back up. _'Lovely?'_ No one has ever called her car lovely. Fast, fierce, sexy, slick, furious, but not _lovely_.

"Thanks," she finally forced.

"So where are we go-" Michiru's breath caught as the car jolted towards the gate. "...ing?"

"Out."

"Out?" She turned to face the driver for a short moment before returning her eyes back to the street ahead.

"Yes, out."

"Where is out?" Michiru found the protruding sides of the seat perfect for digging her nails in.

"Out is where I met your mother."

"Okay." Michiru fought with the nauseating feeling that overcame her as she watched the buildings zoom by in the side window; she deduced that facing forward was her best option. She was starting to feel annoyed at the cryptic conversation they were having. Honesty was one thing, curt answers - something completely different, so she decided to brew on her annoyance and sit the ride out in silence.

Eventually Michiru found herself on the other end of Tokyo as the car pulled into a parking spot and Haruka exited in a flash. Michiru took a second to make sure that all of her insides were still in the right places and to take a deep breath before the door opened and she accepted the extended hand. They walked towards the busy street in silence, Michiru taking in the sight. They slowed down in front of a black door, red rope and a burly man separating them from the entrance. Michiru looked to her side and saw a long line of people waiting to get in.

"You met my mother in a line?"

Haruka wasn't sure if the girl was trying to be funny or literal, so she just shrugged and tried to look inside as the door opened and some people exited the club. Whatever it was she tried to see was positively not in her view. She walked closer to the bouncer, stopping just before the rope touched her legs. "I'm looking for Kouda-san."

Both the bouncer and Michiru looked up at her, the latter with curiosity and the former in annoyance.

"You can look for him at the end of the line." The bouncer gestured to his left, shifting his attention back to the front of the line.

"You see, I would do that, but then he may be pretty mad by the time I get inside and not as lenient about your screw up as he may be now," Haruka said in even tone, her eyes never leaving the bouncer's head.

He turned back, annoyed even more. "You know how many people I get every night trying to bullshit their way in? Just because you know the manager's name, doesn't mean you get a free pass."

"It's your ass on the line, not mine." Haruka wrapped her hand around Michiru's waist and pushed her towards the end of the line.

"Wait."

Michiru looked up and saw a confident half-smile play on the blonde's face. She then felt the warmth of a hand leave her as Haruka turned to face the bouncer, her smile gone and one eyebrow raised in a questioning expression instead.

"Go ahead."

Both women walked quietly past the bouncer as he opened the rope and disappeared beyond the black door.

"You don't know the manager, do you?" Michiru asked in amusement as the door closed behind them.

"Nope," Haruka smirked.

"Somehow I got that impression." Michiru looked around, the strange feeling of excitement finally making its way back to fill her being.

"I never said I knew him, I only said I was looking for him," Haruka winked at the smaller girl.

They were standing on a small platform, a rough metal staircase to their right led down to the basement-level floor. Down on that floor Michiru saw what seemed like hundreds of bodies moving in close proximity. She could see nothing but the people on the floor, the concrete walls and the two-story high ceiling. The music was loud and definitely not something Michiru was used to.

"Shall we?" Haruka extended her hand to the woman who seemed to be preoccupied with her own thoughts.

"Yes." Michiru accepted the hand she fast came to appreciate as they made their way down the metal stairs, her heels almost getting caught in their square pattern.

The view at the bottom of the stairs was even worse than from the top, in a sense of what Michiru saw, that is. Bodies entwined in rhythm with the music, dancing suggestively, like lovers would. As strange as it was, she could absolutely picture her mother here.

"So this is where you met my mother?" She looked at the dark blue eyes.

Haruka nodded. She saw Eiko first at one of the races, but Hiro officially introduced them at the club.

"I see." Michiru looked at the moving bodies again. "So this is your circle? The dirty dancing club?"

Haruka sweatdropped. "Dirty dancing?"

"Uh huh." Michiru gestured towards the dance floor.

"Michiru, this is a salsa club," Haruka forced out.

"Oh." Now Michiru just felt stupid. Salsa? Really, is that what it looked like? It always seemed a lot more proper in a ballroom or on television.

"Anyhow," Haruka scratched the back of her head. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Wine please." Michiru tried to pick up her own self-opinion back from the ground.

"Um…" Haruka scratched the back of her head again. "I don't think they have any."

"Oh?" Michiru forced herself to look back at her date. "What do they have then?"

"Mixed drinks." Haruka let her hand drop down, lest she gets a rash from all the scratching.

Michiru mentally went through a list of mixed drinks she knew of in he head. "Will they have gin and tonic?"

"More likely than wine. Let me check." Haruka made her escape towards the small bar in the far corner of the club.

Michiru watched her date disappear in the crowd and momentarily felt out of place. She even considered following Haruka, but it was not what she was taught, so she stood rooted to the spot where the blonde left her.

**x x x  
**

Haruka walked to the bar and ordered the drinks. She set her elbows on the counter and dropped her head in her hands. _'That was awkward.'_ The whole date was. Not that Haruka was afraid of awkwardness, there were very few things she was afraid of, but it just was not as fun as she imagined it to be. She raised her head at the sound of two glasses hitting the wood and took the drinks, carrying them back to where she left Michiru. Except that Michiru was no longer there.

Haruka looked from side to side and for the first time appreciated the particular color of Michiru's hair; it was easy to spot. She moved through the throng of people, watching Michiru dance with a dark-haired man. Now this was entertaining. Michiru looked really uncomfortable; not because she could not dance, Haruka knew she could from that dance they shared at the ball, it was the proximity that most likely bothered her. Haruka watched them for another long moment, finally deciding that the girl has probably suffered enough.

Michiru was moving mechanically to the rhythm of the song, trying to steel herself against the touch of a man she did not know. The minute she heard his "Hey babe" she wanted to run for the exit, except that she did not know where to go once she was out. She had no idea where she was and she had no money for a taxi or any other kind of transportation. Walking alone past ten o'clock at night was simply not smart, so she tolerated the suggestive dance while trying to distance herself as much as she could.

"I'll take it over from here."

She turned around at the familiar voice and breathed with relief as she saw Haruka stand behind her dance partner.

"I was here first, man." The short man whined, until Haruka scowled at him and he made his ungraceful exit.

"Enjoying yourself?" Haruka forced a smile, knowing full well that not to be the case.

Michiru forced a smile of her own. "It's… pleasant." _'In a very masochistic kind of way."_

Haruka cocked an eyebrow at the lack of genuineness before extending one of the glasses to the shorter woman. "Here, maybe this will help."

Michiru accepted the drink and gracefully gulped down half of its contents. _'This isn't bad, it tastes like pine needles.'_

Haruka's eyes widened at the speed with which Michiru half-emptied the drink, but she did not say anything. Instead, she started to move in rhythm with the music and watched as Michiru slowly followed her lead. They danced in close proximity, but their bodies never touched. At some point Michiru started to feel comfortable and even returned to her prior assessment of her date as boring, since, compared to other men at the club, he did not try to advance on her or dance in a way that in any manner resembled the others. That changed quickly as a tall red-haired woman cut in between them and rubbed herself against Haruka. Michiru stepped aside from pure surprise and watched in stunned silence as Haruka responded in the same suggestive manner.

Haruka took a sneak peak at Michiru's reaction and, not finding anything but the dumbfounded expression on Michiru's face, decided to show her date what salsa really was. She grabbed her dance partner's hands and twirled her around, the woman following perfectly by twisting her body as she stepped away and came back. Haruka turned her around, Haruka's hands sliding to the thin waist, the woman's hands covering them in their trail. They waved in one motion, their bodies as one. Haruka turned the redhead to face her again and extended her hand out, allowing both of them to move legs, and for the woman to move her hips, in tune with the song. They kept going back and forth, their movements fluid and graceful, albeit personal. Neither noticed how a small circle formed around them, people enjoying a beautiful dancing couple.

Michiru learned a few things in the past couple of minutes that seemed like a couple of hours. First, when she thought that her dress was short, she was obviously delirious because it almost reached her knees and was the longest she had seen at the club up to this point. For example, the redhead twirling her behind in front of Michiru's date was wearing a gold backless dress, the ruffled skirt of which barely covered the said behind. Second, Michiru apparently knew nothing of salsa dancing, but her date did. Third, her date was strange, but by no means boring. Lastly, Michiru never knew that her ego could be so low in her own eyes, but it just hit an all time low and she desperately searched for something to do to get it back up. After all, she may be nice and proper on the surface, but that did not mean she had to be the same way on the inside.

Michiru turned around and found a flamboyant man standing to her right. "Excuse me, would you be a dear and get me a gin and tonic?"

The man stared at the strange woman that just asked him to get her a drink in the sweetest voice, while her blue eyes seemed more like ordering him to do it. He looked at his own date for a split second before his boyfriend shrugged and waved his head at the bar.

Michiru was following every movement of the dancing couple with her eyes as they came to a graceful finale, Haruka lowering the redhead almost to the ground. Some people applauded as the next song started to play. Michiru felt a slight tap on her shoulder and saw the man from earlier extending her the requested drink. She gave him a brilliant smile, downed the full drink and handed him the empty glass. The man stared at her, completely dumbfounded, as she made her way to her date.

"My turn." She put her hand on Haruka's shoulder before she started moving in the manner she just learned by watching. In the end, she could move her hips, right?

Haruka was taken by surprise at the forwardness of the up to now reserved woman, but then remembered who her mother was and smiled internally. Maybe there was hope after all.

They enjoyed a few dances, where Michiru applied all her newfound knowledge quite admirably, until she spun around and ended up on the floor. Passed out. Haruka blinked trying to figure out what just happened, then crouched down and looked at the woman splayed on the floor in deep thought.

"Remind me how I got myself into this?" She asked no one in particular. She rocked on the backs of her heels hoping that Michiru would come back to life, but that did not happen. Haruka sighed and picked up the unconscious form.

Michiru was lighter than Haruka expected her to be, so it was not as straining on Haruka's back to carry the smaller woman to the car. She struggled a little as she tried to balance the still unconscious woman while opening the door, but finally managed to do so. She sat the woman down and strapped her in. Once Haruka was behind the wheel she realized that she did not know where Michiru lived. She pulled out her cell and dialed the number Eiko called from.

"_You've reached Kaioh Eiko, I'm sorry I'm not available to answer your call right now, please leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as I can."_

Haruka did not bother waiting for the beep before she hung up. The woman was shrewd enough to call her back when she saw the missed call. Hopefully. In the mean time… Haruka looked at the sleeping woman in her seat.

'_Perfect. This is just perfect.'_

Haruka tried to shake Michiru back to reality, but the only thing that did was make Michiru start snoring, or purring, like a little kitten. Haruka stared at the beautiful purring woman before she started laughing uncontrollably. The picture in front of her was what prompted her to laugh, but she was primarily laughing at herself. She could not remember the last time she was in this position, if ever. Perhaps this was the reason she was avoiding relationships - who wanted complications in life? Like the responsibility of delivering drunk women to their mothers? Haruka sighed as she leaned back in her seat and studied the woman in the passenger seat upclose. She was truly beautiful. Her skin was flawless and had the texture of a perfect silk. Her high cheekbones accentuated her fine features, the little pink shade added by her alcohol-induced state was better than any chemically produced blush could ever be. Her lips were full and delicious, Haruka caught herself wondering what they tasted like and if she would find that out at some point in the future. Her hair… was still very peculiar, but gorgeous. Haruka's hand moved against her own will and removed a soft curly strand from Michiru's face, tucking it behind her ear.

It felt like Haruka had been staring at the beautiful mermaid for eternity when the long lashes rose slowly, revealing the deep ocean blues. "Did I fall asleep?" she murmured softly.

"For a little while," Haruka responded in the same tone, almost afraid to break the moment.

The realization of where she was and what was the last thing she remembered suddenly filled Michiru's consciousness and she opened her eyes wide, shaking the remainder of her slumber off. "What are we doing here?" The softness of her voice was gone, replaced by the usual collected coolness.

"I don't know where you live."

"Oh." Michiru grimaced as a jolt of pain shot through her temples.

"You don't take your alcohol well, do you?" Haruka observed.

"Not all of us can take it as well as you do."

Haruka detected a little challenge in that statement and cocked an eyebrow in response. "I was drinking Coke, Michiru."

"Huh?"

"I had no alcohol whatsoever beyond the two glasses of champagne I had at the ball." Haruka didn't like to mix her beverages, nor did she overindulge in alcohol, in light of what she did for a living. She just didn't see the point. Driving gave her enough rush.

"Oh." Michiru turned away before looking back at the blonde, trying to hide her annoyance. "Then why did you let me drink that?"

Haruka snorted. "I asked you what you wanted to drink and gave you what you asked for. You're an adult, I'm not your babysitter."

"Says the guy who has been sitting here watching me sleep for who knows how long."

"Excuse me?"

Michiru's eyes widened. Did she say that out loud? She did… "Please, just take me home." She collected herself and gave the address.

Haruka did as Michiru asked, not bothering to maintain a conversation. She did enough as it was. Michiru, on the other hand, for the umpteenth time that night felt like she was out of her element not only when it came to her surroundings, but also her ability to be on top of things. So she felt the necessity to control at least something and decided to strike a new conversation. "So this is what your circle is?"

'_Are we back on that subject?'_ Haruka sighed internally. "What do you mean by 'this'?"

"The salsa club."

"Well, it's one of the places I go to, I wouldn't call it my 'circle'."

"Are you always this vague?" Michiru was annoyed again.

"Are you always this meticulous?"

"Do you always dodge the questions?

"No, only when they annoy me."

Well, that conversation worked out perfect. _'Such an icebreaker, good job Michiru.'_ Michiru mentally patted herself on the shoulder with all the sarcasm her brain was currently throwing her way. Why did she even bother?

Haruka gritted her teeth as she stepped on the gas. She wanted this 'date' to be over, she needed to go and get some reward for her struggles. The woman next to her kept pushing the 'on' button on the roller coaster of annoyance to surprise and back, taking Haruka for a ride. It was tiring. She sighed in relief as she spotted the gates that most likely led to a mansion that served as Michiru's home. She pulled in the driveway and was not disappointed. Well, she would be disappointed at the lack of taste if she actually cared, but since she did not care, she was not disappointed because she made the right guess. She stopped in front of the door and turned to her passenger. "There you are."

Michiru gathered the rest of her politeness and forced a fake smile. "Thank you for the night. It was… nice."

"The pleasure is all mine." Haruka belatedly remembered her manners and got out of the car to open the door. She walked Michiru the rest of the way to the front door and bowed slightly. "Well, good night then."

"Good night." Michiru forced another smile before slipping the key in its place and disappearing behind the door.

Haruka watched the door close, then turned around and walked to her still running car. She jumped as a shadow separated itself from the wall and moved slowly in her direction. "Kami-sama, Eiko, do you want to give me a heart attack?"

Eiko raised a brow in amusement. "Never took you as the jumpy type, I guess." She stopped by the hood of the car, facing Haruka. "How did it go?"

Haruka looked at the woman in front of her. Her makeup was gone, her hair was flowing freely down her back, and she was practically wearing nothing. To be exact, she was wearing a short nightgown and silk robe that barely reached her knees.

"Do you always walk around the house like this?"

"Like what?" Eiko furrowed her brows at the unexpected question.

"Like you're going to bed."

"I _was_ in bed," Eiko corrected. "I just wanted to know how it went."

"Ever heard of a phone? Or picking one up when someone calls you for that matter?" Haruka remembered about her annoyance at the inability to reach the older woman when she needed her.

"Sorry, I figured you would deal with it, whatever it was."

Haruka narrowed her eyes. "You both are crazy."

"Hmm… yes, but satisfyingly so, wouldn't you agree?"

Now Haruka widened her eyes. "No. I don't consider carrying someone for three blocks after they pass out after two drinks and then watching them sleep for half an hour satisfying."

"Wow," Eiko stretched the word. "That much fun, huh?"

"Your daughter does not know how to handle alcohol, but she can dance if she wants to." A small smile appeared at the corner of Haruka's mouth.

"Where did you take her?"

"She wanted to know where we met. She thought I brought her to a 'dirty dancing' club."

Eiko laughed out loud. "Havana? Dirty dancing? Oh, my child is so naive." She grew serious. "Thank you for doing this, though. I appreciate it."

Haruka nodded. "Just don't ask me to do something like this again."

Eiko bit on the inside of her cheek. "What happened to the challenge?"

Haruka considered it for a moment. Did she really want more of this awesome dating? She shivered. "Call me in a week. I'll let you know if I'm over the shock of this experience."

Eiko laughed and ruffled the silvery strands. "I'm sure you're about to find some consolation in someone's bed." She turned around and walked to the door. She stopped with her hand on the knob and said without turning, hiding her smile. "I will call you in a week."

Haruka watched the woman in awe. If she ever had a mother, she wanted that woman to be it. It was almost like Eiko could read her on the palm of her hand. It was scary, but satisfying at the same time - refreshing to find someone who knew yourself as much as you did. She wondered what that woman was like when she was her age. Little did she know that Eiko had been even more naive and proper at her age than Michiru was. If she did, she would laugh at the notion.

**x x x  
**

Haruka dialed Hiro as she got out of the gate and found out where her actual crowd was hanging out that night. She drove there as fast as she could, looking forward to that consolation Eiko mentioned. The underground club was as full as the salsa one, only the music was different, the outfits more suggestive, drinks stronger, and people more forward. Haruka smiled as a couple of girls greeted her with wide smiles and followed them to the bar. She got herself another Coke in accordance to her own unwritten rule and grinned as she felt someone's tongue trace the length of her neck. She turned around and saw a girl with long black hair, short jean mini-skirt and backless green top leaning into her. She accepted the invitation and covered the red-tinted lips with her own. Her tongue slipped inside the accepting mouth, reaching for the depths and entangling with that of the owner. She used her empty hand to pull the woman closer, her back leaning against the bar. Haruka felt knowing hands travel along her body and then disappear between her legs, pressing through the thickness of her dress pants. Her coat and bow tie were left in the car, so she soon found the top three buttons of her white shirt opened by the black-haired girl. Haruka did not even know how she managed it, since a hand still kept rubbing between her legs, sending warm sensations through Haruka's whole body.

"It was that bad, huh?"

Haruka broke away from the kiss and looked in the direction of the voice. Hiro was smirking at her from a few feet away. "Worse." Haruka raised her head to allow the woman to travel to her collar bone.

"As much as I'm enjoying this girl on girl action, you should move somewhere more discrete."

Haruka shot him an annoyed glare before following his advice and moving towards a barely lit hallway. Soon, she found herself against the wall, her shirt fully undone, as well as her bindings, black-haired girl's mouth securely against her nipple. Being taken advantage of was not such a bad thing every once in a while. She should mention to Eiko next time that she did not really need a bed to get consolation, a wall worked just as well. She smirked and returned the other woman's courtesy with her own, more experienced one, earning her a deep moan. Haruka's mouth traveled back up to the long neck as her eyes settled on the black piercing ones from a man standing a few feet away, looking at her with a mixture of disgust and disdain. It was the same man that she beat in the race yesterday.

"Bed hopping again?" he snarled before emptying the remainder of his drink.

"Fuck off." She gave him another glance before returning to what she was doing.

The man gave both women another distasteful look before shaking his head and leaving the two alone. Haruka could not care less if he was still there or not, she was too far gone in the depths of pleasure that this random woman was willing to give her.


	4. Second Chances

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**Second Chances**

Michiru has been avoiding her mother for the better part of the week now. She did not want to share any of the experiences she had on Saturday, nor did she want to talk about what her mother did during her midnight outings. She needed time to patch up her pride before facing the woman. Since avoiding someone in the same house, no matter the size, could be complicated, Michiru found that being in her mother's presence with Hideo around served her purpose perfectly - Eiko would never bring up the subject of the date in front of her husband.

It was Wednesday night and Michiru ventured into the living room after spending most of her day practicing for her next concert. Eiko was curled up on the couch reading one of her magazines, while Hideo was watching the news. Michiru walked to her favorite spot on the sofa and made herself comfortable. Nothing seemed to have drastically changed in the world, at least according to the news network, so Michiru was thinking of retreating back to the confines of her room when a story caught her attention.

"_The Wing of Night brought itself to the attention of metropolitan police by hosting weekly races. The patrols around the city will be increased on the weekends to ensure public safety and successful capture of those responsible for the illegal activity. Reports of any suspicious activity are welcomed to the following number: 37…"_

Michiru stopped listening to the number she had no intention of ever dialing. Instead, she turned towards the other couch and saw her mother stare at the screen, the magazine in her lap forgotten. Hideo got up and excused himself, missing the absentminded nods from both women.

"Was that who I think it was?" Michiru was referring to the bullet gray car that was barely noticeable in one of the images shown as the reporter delivered the news. A red car almost hid it from the view as the two sped next to each other, only the front portion of Ferrari was visible as the car gained speed over the Lamborghini. Michiru may have been oblivious to what the car was when she rode in it, but she did her research since then. Now she knew that the car was one of four hundred ever produced and cost a fortune. What were the chances of two bullet gray Ferraris cruising the streets of Tokyo? Whatever they were, Michiru doubted that this was a different car, which led her to the conclusion that she had a date with the car's driver last week.

"I'm sorry sweetie?" Eiko came out of her thoughts.

"What does Haruka do, mother?" Michiru narrowed her eyes at the fidgeting blonde.

"I believe he mentioned being a financial consultant," Eiko recovered quickly.

"Do all financial consultants drive Ferraris that are shown on the news racing illegally?"

Eiko swallowed hard. "Why don't you ask him, sweetie?"

"Because I'm asking you, you're right here," Michiru replied evenly.

Eiko got up. "If you want to know what he does, I can arrange for you to meet him again over the weekend. I'm not telling you anything." She left the room without waiting for a reply.

Michiru stared at the spot where her mother was just a moment ago in stunned silence. Did she want to meet him again? _'When Hell freezes over.'_

**x x x  
**

"You made the news."

Haruka looked up as Hiro walked into the shop. "No, the Wing made the news." She returned to looking through some maps in her lap.

"Your car was on national television, Haruka, you need to change your ride."

Haruka looked back up at the young man and shook her head. "There is no way you can tell that it was my car. That it was a gray Enzo may be, but that's not enough to connect it to me."

"It's not hard to trace the registration records back to you," Hiro insisted.

Haruka threw the maps on the counter as she pushed her chair out. "How long do you think I've been doing this for?"

Hiro tried to remember what he knew on the subject. "How old are you?"

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"I was trying to get a hint." Hiro leaned on the counter opposite Haruka's chair.

"I've been doing this for eight years, Hiro, I know what the hell I'm doing."

Hiro sighed. "So what are you, twenty-nine?" After not getting any response he made another guess. "Twenty-eight?" Still nothing. "Twenty-five?" Not a movement. "You can't be younger than twenty-five, you wouldn't have had a license."

"Since when do you need a license to break the law?" Haruka forced.

Hiro shrugged. "It was a wild guess. So how old are you?"

"Haven't you mother told you that it's inappropriate to ask a woman her age?" Haruka finally lightened up.

"Yes, she also told me that it was inappropriate to hit a girl, but if I ever get in a fight with you, I'm using all I've got."

Haruka laughed out loud. "Well, don't get on my nerves then."

"Fine!" Hiro held both of his hands up in surrender before growing serious again. "Should we cancel tomorrow's outing?"

"No." Her own expression grew serious. "The wheels have been put in motion, we do not back down. We stay alert."

Hiro looked in the cold gray eyes and decided not to argue.

**x x x  
**

"Mother."

Eiko jumped at the sound of her daughter's voice, flipping her phone shut.

"What are you doing?" Michiru squinted her eyes at the guilty-looking woman who was standing in the darkness of the library.

"Nothing."

"Do you always do nothing in the middle of a dark library?"

"Michi, do you have a point? I'm kinda busy doing nothing."

Michiru's suspicion grew even more obvious as she held herself back from another retort. "I want you to call Haruka."

"Come again?" Eiko was taken aback. She didn't expect her daughter to relent this fast. It's only been a day.

"I want you to call Haruka and arrange for another meeting," Michiru continued, closing the door behind herself tightly, effectively eliminating any light in the large room.

"Okay." Eiko knew Michiru could not see her triumphant face, so she didn't bother hiding it.

"There is one condition," Michiru continued.

"I thought you came to me for a favor," Eiko replied before regretting her words, lest they scare Michiru away. "What is the condition?"

"I want to see what he does. I want him to take me with him wherever he is going tomorrow, I'm sure he already has plans."

Eiko considered this and wondered what she would have to do to convince the blonde to agree. Friday was a race night. "I can't promise you anything, but I'll try."

Eiko could swear she heard a snort in response and for the first time wanted to be able to see Michiru's face. "What?"

"Not so powerful as you pretend to be, are you, mother?" Michiru opened the door and left, not waiting for Eiko's response.

Eiko gulped her response down and wondered if she just ignited a cable connected to a dynamite and how long it would take to blow in her face. On the other hand, what was done was done. She opened her phone again and dialed the number.

"_Tenoh."_

"Hey sexy."

"_Uh huh. It hasn't been a week and you start with a compliment. I already don't like whatever it is you're going to ask me."_

Eiko forced a laugh while wondering how she could manipulate the shrewd blonde. Maybe using the head on approach was best. "How do you feel about another date?"

"_I had to get virtually raped in a dark hallway to wash away the goodness off of me last time."_

Now Eiko laughed wholeheartedly. "You will not have to be good this time."

"_How so?"_

"She wants to see what you do. She saw you on the news."

"_She recognized my car on the news?" _Haruka's voice failed to hide the shock.

"I never said she was stupid. I said she was boring."

"_And full of surprises," _Haruka mumbled.

Eiko quietly waited for a response.

"_Favor for a favor."_

Eiko sighed in relief before the full meaning of the words reached her and she furrowed her brow. "What would you like me to do?"

"_Well, since I have to entertain my date, you have to entertain me. I want you to participate in the race."_

Eiko considered the offer for a moment. It wasn't as safe as last time she did it, nor was it of her own accord. Last time there were no restrictions on participants and her and another driver were allowed to drive without any racing experience, but that was because the race was on the country roads. The worst that happened was the other car spinning out of control and ending up in a ditch. She had no idea of the circumstances of this race, not to mention the increased patrols. Then again, what did she have to lose? '_Everything.' _As always, the thought excited her and Eiko found her mouth moving before her brain even processed what she was saying. "Is it safe?"

"_It's never safe." _That much was true. _"It's not any worse than last week."_

"Fine."

"_Come to my garage at five, Hiro will give you instructions. I'll pick Michiru up at ten. We start at midnight."_

**x x x  
**

Michiru looked at her watch again and wondered why she was doing what she was doing. Again. She was going out because she was curious. She was bored most of the time because things came easy to her. She excelled at everything she did and she had everything she wanted. Her life was utterly and completely boring. As humiliating her experience last Saturday was, she actually had fun. She was out of her element and it bothered her, but it also presented a challenge of overcoming something. A challenge she has not had in a very long time, so she grabbed on to it with both of her hands and decided to set all reason aside and meet Haruka again.

Her eyes searched the room for the digital clock in hope that her hand one was broken, but the time was the same: 10:42. She wished her mother was there so that she could take some of her annoyance out, but the woman disappeared in the early afternoon and ignored Michiru's calls. Michiru stifled another sigh as the doorbell finally rang. She jumped up and almost ran to the door, catching herself in time and proceeding the rest of the way in a dignified manner, worthy of a descendant of an old aristocratic line. She opened the door and smiled at the blonde at the top of the stairs, hiding her annoyance.

"Hi," Haruka greeted easily.

"Hello."

"Are you ready?"

'_Only for the past hour.'_ Michiru kept her fake smile in place. "Yes, I am."

Haruka nodded and gestured towards the car in a welcoming motion. Michiru looked different from the last time, perhaps she took a hint from what she saw at the club. Tonight she was dressed in tight black pants, high heels and a flowing light blue top that exposed her shoulders. It was nowhere near the look most women sported where she was heading, but it still made her look incredibly sexy. Which, naturally, did not escape Haruka. "You look beautiful."

Michiru tuck a strand of hair that fell in her face behind the ear as she smiled at the compliment. "Thank you."

"You should let your hair breathe, it will make you look even better."

Michiru stared at the dark eyes for a moment, trying to figure out if it was meant as a compliment, before smiling and sliding gracefully in the passenger seat. What was wrong with her hair? Yes, it was pulled in a tight bun, but it wasn't like it wasn't breathing. It was only slightly stretching her face to the sides. Haruka walked around the car and chuckled at Michiru's reaction. She found herself enjoying those moments. They were… not boring.

"So will you let me know where we are going or is it a secret?" Michiru stared straight ahead, knowing that that was the best way to deal with her date's speedy driving.

Haruka threw her a quick glance before returning her eyes to the road. "Outskirts of Tokyo."

"Anywhere in the vicinity of the salsa club?"

Haruka chuckled. "No, not that Red Light District."

"What?" Michiru spun around.

"There is still time to change your mind and go home if you feel uncomfortable."

"That depends on what we will be doing in the Red Light District," Michiru forced in a strained voice.

Haruka laughed. "I don't know what you want to do there, but I'm not intending to stand next to a pole." Technically she was intending to stand on the side of the road. "We're watching a race."

"So it was you, wasn't it?" Michiru felt her coolness come back.

"Hmm?"

"On the news, that was you, wasn't it?"

Haruka gave her another quick glance. "What will you do with that knowledge?"

"It will satisfy my curiosity," Michiru answered honestly.

"Okay. Yes, that was me."

Michiru nodded, not surprised at the confession in the slightest. "So that's what you really do then? You race?"

"Uh huh."

"See, this is so much better than avoiding a clear answer."

Haruka chuckled. "A clear answer is not always something you can give. What do you do?"

"I'm a violinist."

"Really?" Haruka was surprised that the woman actually did something. In the end, rich people did not really have to work.

"Yes. I have a number of albums out, you may have heard me play."

"I seriously doubt that."

"You don't like classical music?" Though, Michiru already knew the answer to that.

"Not particularly."

"What do you like then?" Michiru was finding this ride a lot more pleasant than the previous ones.

"Something that can overpower the sound of my engine." Haruka shrugged. "Drum and base primarily."

"I don't think I've ever heard that."

"You'll get a chance if you stick around for the afterparty."

"I don't think I will have a choice." Michiru answered. She was dependent on Haruka, since she had no way of getting back on her own.

"You always have a choice," Haruka replied confidently.

**x x x  
**

Michiru watched as Haruka parked the car diagonally on the side of the street, at the end of a row of colorful vehicles. They both got out, Michiru not waiting for the blonde to open the door and allowing her curiosity to be satisfied at the sight beyond the small glass. She was astounded by the amount of people. They were everywhere, their outfits as colorful as the cars they were gathered around. A large screen on the side of a truck drew Michiru's attention. She saw at least a dozen of cars parked in a checkered pattern, obviously waiting for the beginning of the race. Michiru looked around and located the finish line spray-painted on the pavement a hundred feet away from where she was standing.

"Impressive," Michiru said as Haruka stood next to her.

"We aim to please." Haruka grabbed Michiru's hand and pulled her towards the finish line. "Come on, we're running late."

'_I wonder whose fault that is.'_ Michiru hurried to keep up with the blonde's pace in her heels. They came to a small booth where laptops were set on a desk next to police radios and other paraphernalia. A young man with spiky red hair and large noise-canceling headphones on his head was twirling in a chair behind the desk.

"Maedo!"

Michiru jumped slightly as Haruka yelled next to her. The twirling man noticed their presence as he turned, he threw a walkie talkie he was holding to Haruka and lowered his headphones to his neck. "You're late!"

"Tell me something I don't already know," Haruka grumbled back, raising the walkie she caught with her right hand and bringing it up to her face. "Where are we at, Fujita?"

"_Waiting on your word." _

Haruka freed the hand that was still holding Michiru's and looked at the watch. It was ten to midnight.

"Go ahead on schedule."

"Maedo Hiro."

Michiru turned around to the man with spiky hair. "Kaioh Michiru."

"Nice to meet you." Hiro gave her an openly appraising look, making Michiru uncomfortable.

"Is this your natural hair color?" She blurted out, trying to find something to stop him from staring. His fire engine red hair happened to be the first thing that popped into her mind.

"Uh…" Hiro tried to recover quickly. "Is yours?" He looked at her sea-green hair skeptically.

"Of course not, it's a statement," Michiru replied proudly.

"Right. So is mine." Hiro averted his eyes to the large screen where a girl wearing tight shorts and strapless top was standing on the start line, holding a flag in each of her lowered hands.

"We have ten more minutes before they start," Haruka explained. "You want something to drink?"

Michiru shook her head, remembering what happened last time she indulged. She watched people around her move, absolutely sure that she could do this for hours and not get bored. Despite her collected front, Michiru felt a rush of excitement as the minute leg neared the top of the hour and she saw people on the screen move out of the way of the cars. The woman at the start line brought her hands up and everything seemed to still until the flags reached the ground along with the girl and cars soared ahead, tires screeching.

"Tenoh, watch your boy Maedo or watch the screens. We've had enough of his fuck ups."

Michiru turned her head in the direction of the yelling person, but could not tell who it was. She saw Haruka get inside the booth and slap Hiro on the back of his head. The embarrassed man and a woman who was making herself comfortable in his lap a minute ago moved out of the way. Michiru walked over and stood beside Haruka, next to the man that was scratching the back of his neck, embarrassment still clearly written in his features. "Why aren't you racing?"

Haruka looked up at Michiru before returning her eyes to the numerous screens. "This is a 'pimp your ride' race, it's mostly about the modifications on the cars. I don't do those."

"Why?"

"I don't need to modify my car to win."

"How come we follow the race on the screen?" Michiru waved at the large screen on the side of the truck.

"Traffic cams, live cams installed throughout the city and posts with mobile cams."

Michiru took a moment to process the information, watching the angles of the race change on the screen every few seconds. At least that mystery was solved. "And these?" She gestured to the screens in front of Haruka.

"Those dots on top of the map are police cruisers in the area." Haruka nodded at the rest of the screens. "These are live cams around the perimeter of where we are."

"Wow. I always thought that racing was disorganized."

Haruka chuckled. "A lot of sweat goes into making that perception."

"Is that what you consult on?"

Haruka looked at the ocean blues and remembered Eiko's words the night before. Yes, Michiru definitely wasn't stupid, in fact, she was extremely observant and smart. "I consult on many things." She checked the screens again. "You may want to step outside, they are about to come into view."

Michiru did so and watched as the first set of headlights appeared at the other end of the street, followed by numerous other ones. She felt Haruka stand next to her, but didn't ask why the blonde's presence was no longer required at the booth. She watched as the first car jolted and sped up significantly, distancing itself from the followers.

"Too early."

Michiru looked at Haruka in question, but figured she wouldn't get an answer at that moment as the blonde was engulfed in watching the cars near. Michiru turned back and saw another car go through the same process, eventually speeding past the first car that started to slow down. The crowd cheered as the silver and blue patterned car flew through the finish line and came to a stop some ways out. The rest of the cars followed. They stopped in a random pattern, and people surrounded them as soon as the last one stood still.

Michiru watched on the big screen as the door of the winner's car opened and a red stiletto boot appeared, followed by the rest of the body clad in a white mini-dress. She turned sharply, unsuccessfully trying to see through the crowd. "Was that?"

"Your mother?" Haruka turned to the stunned woman, grinning. "Yes, yes it was."

Michiru didn't wait another second before grabbing Haruka's arm and dragging her down towards the front of the cars. They made their way through the throng of people and soon found themselves facing the gloating blonde. Michiru disconnected herself from one blonde and got in the face of the other. "What do you think you're doing?"

Eiko smiled brightly before putting a hand on Michiru's cheek. "Not here, sweetie."

Michiru caught her mother's wrist and removed the hand from her face. "Don't sweetie me," she hissed through her teeth. "Are you out of your god damn mind?"

"Michiru, you are out of line," Eiko's said without any amusement.

"Really? Because I think that you are. What if you get caught? Have you lost all sense?" Michiru's voice was nowhere alike her masked cool front.

"Michiru, this is not the time or the place. You can feel free to be the parent at home, we are in public," Eiko tried to reason evenly.

"I don't give a shit, mother, this is not the same public where I have to pretend to be someone I'm not." Michiru's brain only started to register the meaning of her words after she spat them out.

"Well, then you know how I feel." Eiko stepped away from her daughter and faced Haruka instead. "How did you like that?"

Haruka watched the fight closely, finding yet another side to Michiru. So apparently Michiru was not all prim and proper and could tell exactly what she thought in your face."You learn fast. I like." She extended her right hand towards Hiro, who put money in her open palm before turning around and distributing the rest of the winnings.

"You bet on me?" Eiko asked, appalled at the idea of having been used.

"I have to make money for a living, you know," Haruka smirked.

"How much did you make?"

Haruka's smirk returned. "That's privileged and confidential." She threw a glance at Michiru from underneath her lashes before continuing. "Now excuse me, I have a date to go back to."

Michiru was still fuming by the car, watching her mother talk to Haruka. She couldn't believe how irresponsible her mother was. It pissed her off. She felt a hand slide around her shoulders. Air tickled her ear as Haruka whispered: "Relax, she's fine, you're fine. Now we go and party. Unless you want me to take you home."

Michiru shook her head. She didn't want to go home and, surprisingly, she didn't want the blonde to move the hand away. It was very comforting.

"C'mon people, we're moving out." It was the same voice as from before and now Michiru found its owner. It was a black-haired man with black eyes and a goatee. He was wearing black jeans, black v-neck and a black leather jacket. If Michiru was ever asked to describe him, she would say that he looked like a demon. She watched the man get in a red car, which only furthered her description of him. Others followed. It seemed like everything was disassembled and taken away within minutes, and a column of cars started down the street. Michiru felt Haruka, whose hand was still around her shoulders, turn her gently in the direction of the car. "Let's go?"

Michiru nodded, picking up her pace and stifling a sigh as the warm hand left her.

"Go with Hiro." Haruka nodded at Eiko, who didn't object.

**x x x  
**

The column pulled in an empty parking structure, effectively filling at least a couple of levels. People got out of cars and headed towards a nearby club, bringing it to life. Michiru happened to exit the car at the same time as a passenger in the car next to Enzo. She smiled at the young girl, who returned the smile.

"I'm Chiyo. Friends call me Chi." The girl winked a green eye at Michiru.

"Michiru. It's nice to meet you." Michiru almost jumped as the girl looped her hand around Michiru's elbow and propelled her to move forward, away from the cars and her date. Michiru raised her own hand in acceptance and they made their way towards wherever it was they were going. The girl was wearing platformed shoes with high heels, which she navigated in so easily that Michiru had to fight to keep up with her. Her long black hair was let loose, falling almost to the jean mini-skirt that was covering her hips. Her white tank top was covered with large jewelry that hung off her neck.

"You must be new here."

Michiru shook off her observations of the girl and responded. "Yes, I am."

The girl giggled. "Don't worry about it, coming here with Haruka automatically grants you acceptance."

"Oh? How so?"

"I rule the world," Haruka replied, sliding a hand around Michiru's waist. "Hey Chi." She looked at the black-haired girl across Michiru.

"Hey lover." Chi winked smugly at Haruka, who shot her a warning glance.

Haruka smiled at Michiru's asking glance, daring her to voice the question, which, naturally, Michiru never did. Haruka sighed internally at the coincidence. Yes, Chi was very, _very_ friendly, but why would she have to be in the car next to theirs? Although Haruka may not have minded that coincidence if she was alone - it would have saved her time looking for someone. Chi was not bad last Saturday. Then again, Chi could spill that Haruka was a woman… not that it was Haruka's idea to hide the fact in a first place, but she somehow wanted to know how Michiru would react to some girl on girl action first. Something she should be able to tell tonight.

"What do you girls want to drink?" Haruka asked as the three entered the club.

"I'll have sex on the beach," Chi murmured absentmindedly.

Michiru cocked an eyebrow. "I'll have the same."

Haruka smirked. "Like the name, Michiru?" She could bet her night's winnings that Michiru had no idea what she was talking about.

Michiru blushed slightly. "Something I haven't tried before."

"Admirable."

Michiru looked into dark eyes that looked gray in the lighting, or absence thereof. "What, the courage to try something new?"

"No, the ability to finally be honest."

Michiru winced internally as Haruka disappeared.

"Dance with me, Michiru," Chi murmured in the same absent-minded voice.

"Huh?" Michiru faced the younger girl. How could she dance to that booming music?

Chi moved both of her hands to Michiru's waist and turned her towards the dance floor where few people were already moving to the tune. "C'mon, let's have some fun."

**x x x  
**

"You left her to the vultures?"

Haruka turned at the sound of Eiko's voice. "You wanted her to have fun and not be boring, that's exactly what she's doing." They both looked at Michiru's attempts to dance in the same fashion as other people on the floor. "Just watch her, she learns very quickly."

Eiko looked strangely at Haruka. "I know, she's my daughter."

"You need to tell her I'm a woman." Haruka looked back at the platinum blonde.

"Why?"

"Because someone else will and she'll be mad at you."

Eiko chuckled. "How considerate of you. Don't worry, I face Michiru's wrath on a regular basis."

"I noticed." They looked at each other for a moment, sharing complete understanding without any words. "I better go give her some sex." Haruka waited for Eiko's priceless reaction. "On the beach." She raised one of the glasses in defense.

"Ha ha," Eiko replied carefully.

Haruka started to walk away before halting and turning slightly. "Eiko, you brought Michiru where she doesn't belong. If she makes herself comfortable or starts to enjoy it here, no one is gonna stand in her way, we'll take her in. We're not nice people and we _will_ corrupt your little princess. That I can guarantee you. You should consider that before ever asking me for anything again."


	5. Night Out

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**Night | Out**

Loud music was coming out of the speakers, colored lights blinked in tune with the base. It was semi-dark and the cigarette smoke made seeing anything even harder, but no one seemed to mind. Some people were crowding around the bar, others were dancing, some were indulging in their partners on the scattered couches, and very few simply stood still. Michiru was dancing with Chi, trying to move in a fashion similar to that of other people on the floor. It was certainly different, but she was starting to enjoy it. Other people joined in and soon she lost all sight of Haruka and her mother by the bar.

"You're new."

Michiru turned around towards a husky voice to her side. She saw the man she, at that point, officially tagged as 'demon' standing next to her. "Yes."

"Let me show you what this dance is supposed to be like." He grabbed her hand and turned her away from him, moving flush against her back. He started to move to the rhythm, forcing Michiru to do the same. "You need a man to feel it right."

She could feel what he was talking about alright. It was pressing against her lower back. Michiru was trying to figure out whether she was enjoying it or if she wanted to gag, when she saw a set of cold gray eyes stare them both down.

"Fuck off, Sanu, she's with me."

Michiru felt the man stop moving and release her, but he didn't move away. Michiru stepped closer to her date and turned to face the demon. It somehow felt nice, the authority with which Haruka said that Michiru was there with him, the security she felt when Haruka was around.

Black and gray eyes locked in a wordless battle. "That shouldn't be a problem then, Tenoh. Just let me know when you're done."

Michiru flinched from the statement. Did she hear right? She wasn't some piece of meat that could be passed around. Whatever warm feeling she had in the pit of her stomach a moment ago was gone.

"She's too good for you, Sanu. Go walk the streets, maybe someone will feel sorry enough to sell themselves to you."

Michiru jumped aside as the dark-haired man stepped up to Haruka in a quick, fluid motion, and held on to the blue collar of Haruka's shirt. "Bitch, don't forget who you're talking to."

Haruka didn't even flinch. "Likewise." They stared at each other for another moment before Sanu pushed Haruka back and let go of the collar. Haruka balanced herself, trying not to spill the drinks she was still holding, as the man walked away to the bar. "Here." She extended the drinks to the visibly shaken Michiru and Chiyo. Chi grabbed hers and walked away, while Michiru grabbed on to hers and emptied half of the contents, again. "I see you don't learn everything as fast as you should," Haruka drawled out.

"Self-preservation."

"More like self-destruction, the way I see it."

"I needed to calm down my nerves," Michiru said defensively.

"Uh huh. Don't calm yourself to sleep again, I _will_ leave you on the floor this time."

Michiru looked at the dirty floor in disgust and shivered at the thought of being left alone with those people. Who knew what would happen. She extended her drink to Haruka. "Want some?"

Haruka chuckled, accepted the cup and sipped on the fruity liquid. She passed it back. "Just don't overindulge."

A new track started to play and Haruka pulled Michiru closer, as they both moved in rhythm with the music. The song changed, the drink was empty and Eiko was gone, but neither of them noticed. Haruka struggled to keep whatever short distance they had and not pull Michiru in her embrace, like she would have with any other woman. That would be… tricky. She turned around at a light nudge in her side.

"Umm," Chi made an indistinguishable noise, raised two yellow drinks in her hands, holding the third plastic cup in her teeth.

"Aren't you talented," Haruka murmured taking the offered drinks.

"Wouldn't you know?" Chi smirked as she took her own drink in her hands. "Okay, okay, I'm going." She winked at Michiru and disappeared in the crowd.

"That was very nice of her," Michiru noted, sipping on the sweet drink.

"Yes, Chi is a very nice girl. When she wants to be."

"And when she doesn't?" Michiru wondered out loud.

Haruka gave Michiru a thoughtful look before taking her hand and pulling her in the direction in which Chi disappeared. They came to the side of the room, where Michiru saw something she could only qualify as an orgy. Chi was still holding her drink in one hand, while her other hand cupped a breast of the woman she was french-kissing.

"Oh." Michiru watched the scene, her face crimson red.

Haruka watched the smaller woman's reaction, but didn't see anything other than chagrin and amusement in her face. Not what Haruka expected. Yet again. Somehow she was expecting Michiru to gag at the scene and run out of the club. Neither happened.

"Would you like to join them?" Haruka whispered, hiding her smile.

"Huh?" Michiru turned to the blonde, her mouth slightly agape. "No, I don't think I nearly had enough alcohol to jump into that adventure."

"Interesting."

"What?" Michiru brought her eyes to the watchful blue ones that were studying her.

"I would expect you to be averted to that."

"Averted to what?"

"Any of those." Haruka gestured to the couches with her head. "Group sex, public sex, lesbian sex."

Michiru thought about it and figured that the blonde was most likely right, but she would never allow herself to admit to it. "Well, apparently you know as little about me as I do about you."

Haruka laughed. "Trust me, mermaid, I know a hell of a lot more about you than you will ever know about me." The racer was still chuckling as she wrapped her hand around Michiru's waist. "Come on, we still have some dancing to do before you pass out."

Michiru cocked an eyebrow. "I thought you said you would leave me here if I passed out."

"Yep. We can still dance 'til you do, though."

**x x x  
**

It was around five in the morning when the Enzo slowly rolled down Michiru's driveway. Haruka got out and opened the door for her passenger and walked her to the door, just like the last time, albeit with less hesitation.

"Thank you, I had fun."

"Uh huh." This time Haruka believed her. "Good Night."

Haruka was turning around when she felt a small hand on her shoulder. She faced Michiru and, to her own surprise, found smaller woman's lips pressed against her own. It was the sweetest, most innocent kiss she had ever gotten. And it shook her down to the core, making all that desire that she had been bottling up the entire night come straight to the surface. She watched as Michiru's head moved away, the warmth of the soft lips leaving with it. The long lashes opened and the ocean blues stared into dark midnight-blue eyes.

"How was that?" Michiru whispered, a blush creeping up her neck.

"Not bad," Haruka whispered back. "Would you like to see how it's actually done?"

Michiru shivered at the huskiness of the low voice. A funny knot formed in the pit of her stomach as she nodded in response. Haruka put one of her hands on the side of Michiru's waist and pushed the smaller woman against the wall by the door. She lowered her head and captured the luscious lips with her own. She nibbled them softly, then traced her tongue along the soft surface. Without words she asked for access and Michiru parted her lips, letting Haruka's tongue slip inside her mouth. With a soft sigh, Michiru relaxed into Haruka, slipping her hands around blonde's neck.

Haruka explored the virgin mouth, savored the taste. It took some time before a single clear thought entered her fogged brain: this was Michiru and she was standing on her doorstep. As much as she wanted to show the smaller woman everything she knew on the subject right about now, she could not. Not here. She tried to hold on to that thought, but her desire-filled body was not really cooperating. Her hands were already traveling the length of Michiru's beautifully sculpted back, their direction perfectly predictable. She desperately searched for something that would cool her down, finally coming to the realization of the consequences to her actions and pulling away. Her hands came back to the sides of Michiru's waist, her forehead rested against Michiru's. "We can't."

"Why?" Michiru's voice was as hoarse with desire as Haruka's.

"Because I don't do this."

"You don't make out?" Michiru mused.

Haruka smiled, her lips unwillingly dipping for a small peck on Michiru's mouth before Haruka caught herself and stopped. "No, I don't do relationships, Michiru."

"Mmmh." Michiru raised her head and caught Haruka's lips, using her hands that were still around the blonde's neck to make sure that the racer did not pull away. Haruka lost it for a little while, Michiru did, after all, excel at everything she learned. Haruka was deeply enjoying the tongue fight when the thought crept back to the surface. She groaned and separated Michiru from herself.

"I'm serious, Michiru. I don't do relationships, but you're not a one night kinda girl."

Michiru sighed, pulling out her cellphone from her pant pocket. "What's your number?"

"Did you hear what I just said?" Haruka was cooling down fast.

Michiru looked at the midnight blues. "I didn't ask you to date me, I asked you for a phone number. I don't want to go through my mother every time I feel like hanging out."

Haruka weighed her options. Even if she didn't give Michiru her number, she could always get it out of her mother, so what was the point? As to the relationship… well, she did warn Michiru, it was no longer her problem. She actually voiced it, twice. That was much more than the fine print warning most people got, if even that. "Hand me your phone." She saved the number under the same "TH" she did in Eiko's phone. Haruka handed the phone back and stepped away.

"Michiru, I will tell you the same thing I told your mother earlier. We are not nice people, we don't really give a shit for others' feelings, nor do we care what someone else is doing. We are not faithful to anyone but ourselves and we don't like to be forced into anything. If you want to come and hang out, feel free, but don't expect anyone to babysit you. If you fall, no one will catch you. Keep that in mind before you dial my number."

Michiru watched in silence as Haruka walked back to the car, processing the words. "Haruka?"

Haruka turned around, their eyes locking.

"Who is 'we'?"

A small smile appeared at the corner of Haruka's mouth. "The Wing of Night and its followers."

**x x x  
**

Michiru closed the door behind herself and leaned against the solid wood. She wasn't sure if she ever had that many experiences in one night. In the past six hours she watched an illegal race, hosted by a gang that was wanted by the police; went to an underground night club where she danced to the kind of music she had never heard before; then she watched an orgy; then she had her first kiss which she herself offered; then she had a mind blowing kiss in return and experienced feelings she has never had before as her whole body reacted. Yes, her head spinning was fully justified.

"Michiru."

"Mother."

Eiko was sitting on the couch when Michiru entered the living room.

"Are you having trouble sleeping?" Michiru stopped in front of her mother.

"Making sure you got home in one piece." Michiru's bruised lips did not escape Eiko's attention. "I see you were enjoying some action. Good for you."

Michiru blushed. Eiko got up and touched her daughter's cheek in a gentle caress. "Michi, don't do anything you haven't thought through. I wanted you to have fun and I can see that you are, but those people are not your crowd, probably will never be. Be careful, I don't want anything to happen to you."

Michiru looked into her mother's tired eyes. "You probably should have thought of that before you set me up on a date with an illegal racer."

"Touché, but Haruka does have the most sense of them all. However, Haruka will not always be there to protect you. The minute you start feeling uncomfortable, I want you to stop going there."

Michiru stared at the light blues. Was her mother joking? She was uncomfortable there all the time, that was the only reason she went - to overcome that feeling. "Don't worry, mom, I won't do anything you wouldn't." Michiru gave Eiko a brilliant smile before kissing her on the cheek and heading upstairs. She had some shopping to do tomorrow or, rather, later today.

**x x x  
**

"_Tenoh."_

Michiru giggled at the serious voice. "Kaioh."

"_Michiru?"_

"Yes?"

"_Got bored?"_

"Out of my mind." She wasn't lying, she kept thinking about Friday night the whole week, starting to feel excited as the week neared its end.

"_What do you want to do about that?"_

"Is there… um… an outing tonight?"

There was a brief pause and Michiru wondered if the call dropped. _"First your mother sells your soul to us, now you want to come willingly?"_

She smiled at the mirth in Haruka's voice. "Yes, I liked being at the gates of hell."

Haruka laughed and Michiru joined. _"Those are not gates to hell, Michiru, it's the underworld… a place that demons, witches and other scary creatures inhibit. Are you sure you want to come?"_

"Positive."

"_I can't pick you up, I'm racing tonight."_

"That's not a problem. I'll get there."

"_I didn't know you could drive."_

"I have a driver for that."

Another silence. _"I don't know if that's a good idea."_

Michiru chuckled. "Don't worry, he is one of very few people I would trust with my life."

"_Okay." _

Michiru heard some paper shuffling.

"_Find Maedo Hiro at this address…"_

Michiru wrote the address down. "What time should I be there?"

"_Uh… the race is at midnight. We'll start to set up by ten or so. You can get there any time after that."_

"Okay, I will see you there."

"_See ya."_

Michiru hung up, looked at the address on her pad and smiled. Next, she dialed one of the numbers on her speed dial.

"_Moshi moshi."_

"Jun, this is Michiru."

"_How could I forget your voice in just two weeks, Kaioh-sama?" _

Michiru smiled. "Maybe your vacation was so good you forgot everything about work."

The old man chuckled. _"I do not forget family, Kaioh-sama, not even on vacation."_

Michiru sighed, she had missed her driver. Sometimes she felt like he was her only friend. "I need your services tonight, Jun."

"_Of course."_

"Pick me up at ten."

**x x x  
**

Michiru exited the black car and looked around, but could not see anything in the dark field, other than the warehouse that was right in front of her.

"Are you sure this is the right place, Kaioh-sama?" Jun, her driver, followed her gaze.

"I am." She smiled at him reassuringly. "I will call you if I need a ride back, but it will most likely be in the early morning, so I suggest you catch some sleep in the meanwhile."

Jun bowed and watched his mistress walk to the door on the side of the building. He made sure that she did not come out before getting in the car and driving away.

Michiru entered the warehouse and was momentarily blinded by the light. People were finishing setting up what looked like a stage for a show, but in reality was a simple display set, consisting of six flat screens and large speaker set up on the floor. Michiru tried to locate the hyper young man she had met last week and figured that he would most likely be where all the electronics were. She searched for some kind of a booth, but her eyes settled on a large desk with all the electronic paraphernalia instead. Hiro was crouching under the table, connecting some cables. Michiru took her black silk coat off and held it in her left hand, making her way in that direction. She stood next to the desk and waited for Hiro's acknowledgment of her presence.

Hiro's attention was taken away from the cables by a pair of high-heeled black boots. His eyes traveled up the never-ending leather to a short black skirt. That was when the table reminded Hiro of its presence by the dull thud on his scull. "Shit." He rolled from underneath the table, massaging the top of his head, his eyes finishing their previous task. The over-the-knee high boots disappeared under the black skirt, which in turn disappeared under a tight silver top with wide sleeves which were cut on the sides, revealing white toned shoulders. The sea-green hair was twisted up and held by two chopsticks, soft curls escaping the hold in random fashion. "H-h-hi," he finally mumbled.

"Hi Hiro." Michiru smiled, enjoying every moment of his reaction. She wondered what Haruka's would be.

"H-Hi." He dropped his hand to his side. "Uh, sorry, I've to finish setting up or someone'll yell at me again."

"That's okay. Haruka told me to find you when I get here."

"Oh." Hiro seemed to be relieved by that knowledge. "Uh… Tenoh is still here, in that corner." He motioned to the area behind the screens with his head.

"Thanks."

"Any time." Hiro gave her another look before turning back to his unfinished work and mouthing "Holy shit."

Michiru made her way in the direction of the screens and saw few men and a couple of women, including Haruka and the demon, looking at a map on the table. Michiru admired Haruka's form clad in dark blue jeans and a yellow untucked dress shirt.

"We start at this exit. Fijiama's team will hold traffic at the exits along the way as we approach." Haruka dragged her finger along the Shuto Expressway. "We come back to the local exit and pull inside the warehouse. Whoever gets off the Expressway first wins, but _do not_ stop until you get inside." She looked as the others nodded.

The participants started asking her questions, which she gladly answered, until silence spread around the table. Haruka looked at them, wondering what caught their attention until Sanu waved his head at something behind her back. Haruka glanced over her shoulder before returning her gaze to the map and doing a double-over.

Michiru watched with a confident smirk plastered on her face as the conversation died down as people saw her watching Haruka. Then the demon waved at her and Haruka turned around, obviously not recognizing her, she turned back away. Then Haruka looked again, her mouth open, her eyes wide. Michiru's smirk grew into a grin.

"Damn," Haruka finally forced out. "Haruka." She stepped closer to the dressed down goddess in front of her and extended her hand.

"Michiru." Michiru accepted the handshake and yelped as she was pulled into a tight embrace; hard lips covered hers in a deep kiss.

Haruka finally pulled away, both breathing hard. "This doesn't change what I said."

"Neither would I want it to," Michiru answered seriously.

"Okay." Haruka took her hand and drew her to the table. "Any more questions?"

After another second's hesitation the questions continued, as did the answers. Fifteen minutes later everyone at the table, including Michiru, fully understood all aspects of the night's race and headed towards their vehicles.

"I take it my mother is not racing today?" Michiru asked as she walked to the Enzo with the blonde.

"No, this is for members only."

"Members? Of the Wing of Night?" Michiru looked up into Haruka's face.

Haruka nodded. "Yes, this is a speed race, we go up to and above 300 km/h, only members can participate in it."

"So all those people at the table were members of the… club?"

"Yes."

"How does one become a member?"

"They have to have enough experience, go through qualification races, attend all the safety meetings, and keep their skills in shape."

"How many members are there?"

Haruka turned around as they reached the Enzo. "Thirty-seven."

"Do they all participate in planning?"

"No."

"How many do?"

Haruka was drowning in the ocean blues, it was a perfect technique to draw information out of her. "Five."

"Who are they?"

"They are the Wings."

"The Wings?"

"Uh huh," Haruka whispered as Michiru neared, their bodies less than an inch apart.

"Are you one of them?" Michiru whispered back, inching even closer, but waiting for an answer.

"I am."

Haruka got another deep kiss as a reward for the information she just divulged to the smaller woman. Technically, she was no longer smaller, the heels brought them almost to the same height. She pulled Michiru close and enjoyed the offered caress. In another couple of minutes Haruka started to wish she did not have to race in an hour. As it was, she still had to make her way towards Yokohama. She unwillingly pulled away. "What was that for?" she whispered in a hoarse voice.

"For good luck." Michiru smiled.

Haruka laughed, letting go of the girl and opening the car. "I don't need luck, mermaid, the wind is all I need, it'll carry me."

'_No low self-esteem issues there.'_ Michiru just kept smiling. Haruka got in the car and followed the other six racers that had left the premises. Michiru watched the Enzo disappear and the large doors close before she made her way back to Hiro.

**x x x  
**

In an hour before the race Michiru met what seemed like dozens of Chi's friends, which made the time fly by unnoticed. She only realized that the race was about to begin when the music volume was lowered, and people started turning towards the displays. Michiru excused herself and made her way back to Hiro's table. For once, he was alone and watched the screens attentively. Michiru found an empty spot at the end of the table and sat down, making herself comfortable. She watched as seven cars stood in a line one behind the other on a ramp that led to the expressway.

"How do they determine the order of the cars?"

Hiro faced her momentarily before looking back down. "By their last winning place."

"So Haruka came first last time?"

"Tenoh comes first most of the time. Sanu is the only worthy opponent Tenoh has out of these six."

Michiru nodded, watching as a man on the side of the ramp raised a checkered flag and lowered it down, officially starting the race and putting seven beasts in motion. The Ferrari and Lamborghini were closely followed by a blue Mustang, followed by black Nissan GTR, silver Camaro, white Acura NSX, and a red Honda Integra.

The crowd cheered as the cars tried to get ahead of each other, especially as the Lamborghini closed up the distance to Ferrari. Michiru smirked at Haruka's overconfidence, not knowing that it was the kiss she gave the blonde that would not leave Haruka's mind and distracted her from what she was doing. They were nearing the exit when Ferrari finally pulled ahead slightly, all the while making the Lamborghini move to the right, towards the exit, and finally cutting it off right in front of the concrete barrier. Michiru paled a few shades watching the move, as did the frozen man next to her. Hiro finally shook it off and signaled for the doors to be opened. The cars came in one by one and took the spots they previously occupied on the side of the warehouse. Haruka got out, walked around the car and met Sanu with a triumphant smile.

"In your face!" She put a finger on his chest. "Twice in a row, take that, you son of a bitch!"

"Are you out of your god damn fucking mind?" Sanu grabbed her hand and shoved it off his chest. "Are you trying to kill us both?"

The two kept bickering, the anger and antics escalating as the minutes went by. Michiru was digging her nails in the plastic cup she was holding, not breathing. Hiro looked from her to the two racers and back. "Don't worry, they only bark at each other, they don't bite. Besides, Tenoh could always kick his ass, she's a tough girl."

Michiru spun around and forgot all about the fight she was sure was about to start as she heard the words that came out of Hiro's mouth. "_SHE?"_

Hiro stared at her like she had two heads. "Last time I saw Tenoh half-naked, she definitely was a _she_."

"Haruka is a woman?" Michiru was still having trouble accepting the fact.

"For someone who had a tongue deep down her throat, you sure seem to know alarmingly little," Hiro observed.


	6. No Regrets

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**No | Regrets**

"For someone who had a tongue deep down her throat, you sure seem to know alarmingly little."

Michiru's hand reached out without her knowledge and slapped Hiro across his side. "Ouch. Man, what did I do?" he grumbled, rubbing his upper arm. He shot her an angry glance and made his way towards the arguing duo, hoping that he would not get any more physical damage for trying to calm them down.

Michiru was left standing by herself, contemplating on what she had just learned. She tried to make a logical progression in her head: she went out with someone and she was not averted to them, which was different. She kissed that same person, which was the first kiss she has ever had and she could not really compare it with anything else. She had been kissed again on at least three occasions that she clearly remembered and every time her body screamed for more. The conclusion? She was a hormone-raged teenager, even if that stage of her life reached her a bit late. She groaned. That still didn't explain her feelings on the subject matter of kissing a woman. _'Haruka is a woman? Really?'_

Michiru kept looking at the screen, trying to see anything in the blonde's figure that would give it away as female. Well, the dress shirt probably did a good job at hiding the curves because it was untucked, just like any other shirt Michiru had seen Haruka wear, with the exception of the one she wore under the tux, but then there was the jacket. The haircut did nothing to tell the gender either way, the face… yes the face was a bit feminine, but it was handsome. No one could blame Michiru for not being able to tell the difference under those circumstances… it was just that she had been a lot closer to the blonde… how could she not notice that she was a woman? Yes, she may have never let her hands wonder around, but… shouldn't she have felt something?

Michiru was finishing her third drink of the night, gradually building her tolerance to alcohol. Where did all this musing leave her? So, if Haruka was indeed a woman, how did Michiru feel about that? Did gender matter? It surely mattered where she was from, her stepfather would have a heart attack if he knew Michiru almost made out with a girl. The thought made Michiru smile. The public acceptance was something many people still dreamed of, but that was neither here nor there. She wasn't dating a woman in the circles of Tokyo's society, the woman told her herself that she didn't have relationships, so that left Michiru… with a question of whether she just wanted to do it for the hell of the experience, just like all those other experiences she had been learning in the past weeks. _'What if Haruka didn't look like a man, would I kiss a woman?' _It was hard to imagine, so she needed something or rather someone to give her an answer to that.

"Hey, you left us."

Michiru turned to a pouting Chi, whose expression turned to confused and then alarmed as Michiru's lips curved in an evil smile. Michiru put her empty cup on the table and walked to the black-haired girl. Chi took an unsure step back, but wasn't quick enough as Michiru put a hand at the back of her neck and pulled her into a kiss.

**x x x  
**

"You're always cutting it close like life matters nothing, find another way to end your miserable existence, but don't endanger mine in the process!"

"Stop playing with adults if you think it puts your life in danger!"

"Who are you calling an adult? You never got out of the sand box!"

"I've never been to a sand box my whole life, unlike your sorry ass!"

Hiro kept looking from one angry face to the other, trying to find something to stop Haruka and Sanu before they actually used those hands that were holding to their respective clothing garments and marked up each others faces, which had happened before, despite Hiro's assurance that they only 'barked.' "Um guys…"

"At least my sorry ass had a childhood and grew out of it. Yours is still making up for it!" Sanu ignored Hiro's boyish voice as he did most of the time.

"Uh… guys…"

"Not all of us had a privilege of having a mommy and a daddy!" Haruka ignored her friend, pissed at the fact that Sanu brought her childhood up.

"If you -"

"GUYS!"

"What the fuck do you want, Maedo?" Sanu finally turned to face the redhead.

"You're at it again… go party."

"What are you, my mother?" Haruka hissed before turning back, fully intending to continue her senseless battle.

"Uh… Tenoh," Hiro tried again. Haruka ignored him. "Tenoh."

"What?" She turned and saw him point in the direction of the table he occupied some minutes ago. She followed his finger and let go of Sanu's jacket in surprise, which effectively gave him an opportunity to throw her to the ground without any resistance.

"Shit." She stared at her arch nemesis again. "Taking advantage of a woman, Sanu?"

"I'd never do anything you wouldn't do." He gave her a steely glance before joining his cheering friends and walking away.

Haruka picked herself up, cleaning her jeans from the dust. Did she just dream that up, or was Chi kissing Michiru? She looked in the direction of the two women, but neither was there anymore. Haruka needed to have a chat with the dark haired girl. She may not have had relationships, but no one crossed her when she was exploring her prospects. The girl needed to be put in her place.

**x x x  
**

Michiru pulled Chi into a kiss, looking for the tantalizing reaction of her hormone-ridden body. The lips were soft and knowledgeable once their owner passed the stage of shock, but the sensation Michiru was looking for never came. She let go of Chi and stepped away.

"Ummm… yeah." She gave the girl another quick glance before walking towards the cars. Not what she expected. No butterflies. No excitement. So, was it an indication of her disinterest in women, or was it that she was interested specifically in Haruka? Michiru reasoned that there was only one way to find out, a way that would allow her to know both if Haruka was a woman and if Michiru still enjoyed it.

She searched the quickly dispersing crowd as people made their way towards the drinks and open area adjoined to the loud speakers. Her eyes finally settled on Haruka walking between the cars, obviously in search of someone as well. Michiru measured the distance and figured that they would meet by Ferrari if she hurried up.

Haruka was making her way to Hiro's table, circling around the cars, when she ran into a goddess in high boots. She looked at the ocean blues and decided that she could as well start her investigation there. "Did I just see you -"

She never finished as Michiru never stopped walking, making Haruka back up into the hood of her own car, which almost made her trip. She grabbed on to Michiru's waist to steady herself as her ankles hit the bullet-gray body. They stilled for a second, separated by less than an inch and not breathing. Neither could tell who made the first move, but they were kissing vigorously, trying to overpower each other and take control of the situation the next second. Haruka, who had not had sex in a very long time, i.e. almost two weeks, and who had constantly been teased by Michiru, had no control over herself whatsoever. In effect, that brought Michiru in a horizontal position on top of Enzo's hood, Haruka's body hovering on top, supported by the strong arms.

Michiru's arms were entwined around Haruka's neck as her mind kept fighting with her hormones to proceed in the exploration of the body on top, finding out once and for all which gender it belonged to, while her own body seemed to be in disagreement with her mind and simply wanted to suck the life out of Haruka's mouth. The internal battle continued, Michiru logically reasoning that she could take a break for figuring out the answer to at least one of her questions. She definitely liked Haruka, there was no confusion on that part. She felt Haruka's knee come on top of the hood and take some weight as Haruka freed her hand, which soon came to Michiru's arm and slowly made its way up to her neck, fitting perfectly in the open slit of her top's sleeve. The hand caressed the back of Michiru's head and the side of her neck before sliding down to her chest and cupping one of her breasts. Michiru felt all air escape her along with a soft moan that was covered by Haruka's curling lips. Those same lips left Michiru's mouth and joined the hand, biting on her nipple through the fabric of her top and the thickness of her bra. Michiru dug her hands in the silvery strands and pulled the head back up, crushing the mouth she was beginning to love and finally letting her own unsteady hand travel along Haruka's back. Both were lost in a kiss when Michiru's hand finally landed itself between Haruka's legs, bringing them back to reality. Haruka's eyes widened as Michiru pushed her off and stood up abruptly, towering over the blonde who was half-hanging off the low hood.

"You _are_ a woman!" Michiru was wiping her wet mouth with her sleeve.

Haruka made a graceful recovery and stood up, wiping her own mouth with the thumb and the index finger of her right hand. _'Wait, ARE a woman?' _She narrowed her eyes.

"I can't believe you deceived me!" Michiru took a step back as Haruka neared.

"Deceived you?" Haruka was trying to get close enough to Michiru to keep it between the two of them. She already gave a show with Sanu earlier, one per night was enough.

Michiru nodded. "You lied to me!"

"I've never lied to you!" Haruka was appalled at the accusation.

"You are a woman pretending to be a man!"

"I don't pretend anything! I dress and act the way I feel comfortable, if you can't tell a man from a woman, it's your own god damn fault."

"You kissed me." Michiru was starting to sound like a little girl who was harassed by a bully.

"No, mermaid, you kissed me." Haruka smirked. "I only returned the favor."

"I'm not gay…"

Haruka laughed which almost made Michiru cry. "How would you know that, Michiru?"

"I just do."

"Your body tells me otherwise." Haruka finally backed Michiru into a wall. Michiru tensed up, waiting for Haruka to grab her or shove her into the wall behind Michiru's back, but nothing happened. They were just standing barely apart, angry grays and scared blues locked on each other.

"I've never forced anything on you, you've done everything of your own accord. You enjoyed every kiss, every caress you got. If it matters to you that they were from a woman and not from a man, irrespective of your shameful inability to tell the difference, it's your problem. You are utterly and helplessly confused and need to figure out what the hell you are before you accuse other people of concealing anything about themselves. I warned you last week that you were playing with fire, but apparently it didn't get through to your head, so I will repeat it again. No one gives a shit about your feelings here, so don't play the hurt card. Very few people here would let you get away after the open display of affection you forced on them. Being one of those very few people, I will do the last honorable thing. Mark my words, it will be the last honorable thing I ever do to you. I will let you get the hell out of here, so run to your castle and hide from the ugly world outside, because that is where you belong."

She took a step back and watched as Michiru wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks before she turned around and got out of the door, leaving the confines of the warehouse. Haruka took a few deep breaths, flexing both of her hands, before she turned around and continued on her previous task of finding Chi.

As expected, she found the dark-haired girl in a company of another girl, both dancing and kissing, while spilling their overfilled drinks to the concrete floor. Chi's eyes widened when she saw the approaching blonde and she stopped, holding on to her dance partner and wondering where the nearest exit was located.

"Chiyo, let's go." Haruka grabbed her upper arm and threw a quick glance at the girl Chi was standing with. "Your friend can come." She turned back in the direction of the less lit areas of the warehouse. "You owe me."

**x x x  
**

Michiru was standing on the side of the warehouse, waiting for Jun to pick her up. She realized that she left her coat inside once she stormed out, but didn't dare to go back and look for it. Instead, she took her boots off and tried to bring the short skirt as far down as she could. Somehow her current look was embarrassing to be seen in, especially by someone who knew her since she was a child. She threw her boots in the tall grass and marched to the front of the warehouse, wiping the tears that wouldn't stop.

She hated this. She hated her mother for introducing her to Haruka and for lying about Haruka's gender, because Eiko definitely referred to her as a 'he'. She hated Haruka for everything the woman just said and for the way she made her feel. But most of all, most of all she hated herself for not being able to live life the way she wanted. For not being able to simply not care about what she did and who she did it with. Did it really matter if she was kissing a man or a woman? What did it matter when she wasn't going to have a relationship with that person? It shouldn't have mattered, she shouldn't have made any conclusions, it was just the habit of hiding herself from the world, the habit of acting and behaving like people expected her to, not like she wanted to. She hated this.

She wiped the last tears off as the headlights of the familiar car approached. Jun got out and opened the door to his barefoot, barely dressed, red-eyed charge without a word. He closed the door behind her and allowed his lips to turn into a thin line as he walked to the driver's door.

**x x x  
**

It was just around two o'clock when Michiru got home and for the first time in her life she had to use the back entrance. She couldn't face her mother right now, she would break, even more so than she already had. She needed time to think on a clear head, she needed to figure out what happened to her and where she was spiraling towards. She took her clothes off and crawled under the blanket, covering herself fully and curling into a fetal position. To her further misery, as soon as she closed her eyes, she saw nothing but the moving bodies on top of a bullet-gray hood.

**x x x**

Midnight-blue eyes stared at the beams beneath the roof unseeingly. It was highly disturbing and only aggravated her more that the only thing she could think of while the two younger girls were pleasuring her was having Michiru. It was a rarity to be stuck on someone at all, unheard of to be thinking of someone while having sex with somebody else.

'_What the fuck?'_ Haruka shouted in her head as she lost all interest in whatever was going on with her body at the moment. She got up, shaking the girls off, and pulled her pants up. She buttoned the shirt, not bothering with the bindings as she made her way towards the epicenter of the party. She searched for her, at this point, drunk arch nemesis and headed his way. "Can you close up tonight?"

Sanu turned around at the sound of her level voice and gave her a once-over. "What the fuck happened to you?"

"I'm going home." She turned around, not waiting for his response. Sanu stared at her until she got lost in the crowd before shaking his head and returning his attention to the group of people he was drinking with.

Haruka got in her car and slowly pulled out of the warehouse, trying to avoid dozens of people in her way. She drove towards Tokyo, finally coming to a quiet residential street. She pressed the button for the garage opener and a garage door of the only single-story house on the street opened just in time for her to slowly drive in. The door lowered behind the Enzo as the engine died for the night. Haruka got out of the car and flipped on the lights. A large space reminiscent of a smaller, cleaner, and more structurally sound version of the warehouse became illuminated by the recessed lights. Haruka walked around the panel of glass that separated garage from the rest of the living space, making the Enzo a part of the decor, and headed to a small kitchen. She opened the stainless steel fridge and got a bottle of Coke out, opened the metal top on the nearby concrete counter, and took a few sips. She walked to one of the two genuine black wood Gehry chairs and sat down. There were no windows on three sides of the house, which was amply made up for by a continuous succession of floor to ceiling windows on the fourth side, the side that faced the bay, just beyond a sharp cliff. Night lights of Tokyo played in the rippling water, creating the best entertainment Haruka ever needed when she enjoyed the solitude of her home. She sipped on the cool bubbly liquid and let her body relax, pushing the events of the past night out of her mind.

**x x x  
**

A beautiful familiar melody filled the concert hall as Michiru played her rendition of Bach's Concerto No. 1 in A minor. Her play was flawless, a result of repeated practice and natural talent. She came to another melancholic part of the piece and sighed internally, her thoughts back on the subject that has not left her mind in the past week: Haruka. She wondered if the blonde was racing tonight, mused on how little she knew about the woman she dreamt about every night, while denying her feelings for the said blonde during the day. A part of her wanted to be there, wherever 'there' was this Friday night. The more reasonable part of her knew that that would not happen; that was the part that brought her on stage of the concert hall for the cancer benefit tonight.

It was an annual benefit and Michiru has never missed an appearance, her father having been taken by the disease over ten years ago. She opened her eyes as she got to a happier place in the song and looked at the table where her perfectly elegant mother was sitting with her husband. They both looked proud, like any parent of a young violinist would. Except that neither of them had anything to do with the way Michiru played. It was her father who gave her the violin when she turned ten, the year he passed away, the year she became an adult. The music became her outlet in life, the only time when she was true to herself and not afraid to show it to the world. After all, not many people understood the music she herself composed, so there was no harm to playing it in public or even recording it. Thirteen years of practice, mostly done in confines of her bedroom, away from prying eyes and ears, and she felt comfortable playing anything, anywhere and for anyone.

She lowered the bow as the song came to an end and bowed to her audience that erupted in applause. Michiru gracefully walked down the stage, put her Stradivarius in the case and made her way to her family's table.

"That was beautiful, Michi," Hideo praised as she took a seat.

"Thank you," she responded politely, reaching for her glass of water.

Both Eiko and Michiru politely but minimally participated in the conversation at the table as they enjoyed the rest of the benefit. Not unlike her mother's, Michiru's mind never fully joined the place where her body was. Instead, it was across town, remembering her previous dates and wanting to be anywhere but where she currently was.

**x x x  
**

Dark blue eyes watched the seemingly happy family across the room, enjoying their conversation with other people at the table. They lingered over a figure of a beautiful woman dressed in a long white gown, her sea-green hair pinned up in an elegant hairdo. The blues darkened, gaining their midnight quality, before they shifted to the man who just addressed the blonde at her own table.

"Would you say that the depression is headed our way, Tenoh-san?"

"I believe the worldwide economy is affected overall, Ishida-san, there is nothing to isolate us from the unfortunate consequences of the latest downturn." Haruka loosened her skinny tie slightly as she relaxed back in her chair, all attention turned back to the people who dined with her that night.

"Do you foresee any precautions we may take to protect our… portfolios from the oncoming danger?" A woman with short black hair asked from the other side of the round table.

"I have been taking measures since the very beginning of the downturn, Abe-san, your portfolio is perfectly safe at this point, although I would recommend Sasake-san to transfer his stock and invest it in something more stable." Haruka looked at the brunette man sitting next to the woman.

"How so?" Sasake wondered, chewing on his meal.

"I hear Shimizu-san is going to head a new committee that oversees the safety of the streets of our wonderful city. Investing in your current choice of stock may not be the best idea while working with Shimizu-san on a daily basis."

"Should I worry about reinvesting into something else as well?" Ishida asked.

"No, you are not as invested as Sasake-san is." Haruka watched as Ishida nodded.

"Has the date been set for the next meeting, Tenoh-san?"

"Clasco-san?" Haruka looked at a blonde man sitting next to her.

He wiped his mouth with a napkin before answering. "It will be in three weeks, I will let you know of the venue the week of. Same time. Please pass the word to those who need to be there." They all nodded, satisfied with how the evening progressed thus far.

"Tenoh-san, do you like the violin play?" Abe wondered as she eyed the silvery blonde.

"Why do you ask?" Haruka's spine turned rigid, not that anyone noticed.

"You keep watching the violinist."

Haruka narrowed her eyes at the woman who was poking her nose where it did not belong. "If you haven't noticed, Abe-san, the violinist is Shimizu-san's step daughter."

"Oh."

"Well, as enjoyable as this has been, I'm afraid I have another function to attend." Haruka looked at her watch as she stood up. "Ladies and gentlemen, I will see most of you in three weeks." She bowed and quickly left the table, her black-suit-clad form heading straight for the exit out of the concert hall.

**x x x  
**

Michiru was sipping on her champagne, her eyes darting across the room in search of any kind of entertainment when they fell on a tall figure dressed in an impeccable black suit, black shirt and a blue tie. She only caught a moment of the frontal view as the person turned and walked towards the exit, their posture perfect, their movements catlike. She didn't know Haruka that well, judging by Haruka's presence at the banquet, Michiru knew absolutely nothing about her at all, but she could tell that the movements belonged to the racer. Not to mention that her hair color was hard to mistake for someone else's.

All of a sudden Michiru forgot about all of her confusion, all of her mixed feelings. The singular thought in her head was that she wanted to know about the blonde, no matter the cost. She wanted to be with her, if only for a short while. She got up and excused herself, heading for the bathroom. Once alone in the large room, Michiru pulled out her cellphone and dialed Chi's number.

**x x x  
**

Haruka had no intention of staying at the race that night. She was exhausted from all the planning she had to do for the meeting over the week, in addition to business that all of a sudden decided to pick up at the shop. Mechanic's garage may have been a perfect front for the side of the operation she was running, but if she actually had to do the work, she missed out on her other duties. As a result of restless days and desire-overfilled nights, she wasn't in one of the best moods, nor was she up to anything but crashing in her own bed and taking a Saturday off. Hiro would surely not object to that.

She pulled inside the parking ramp and parked by the other super car. Haruka did not bother to remove her jacket or her tie off, it wasn't like she had to worry about them getting dirty, she wouldn't stay long enough for that to happen.

"You look like a dyke," Sanu sneered as she approached.

"You look like a whiny bitch." She looked at the screens as the software loaded and turned back to the dark-haired man.

"How did it go?"

"Fantastic, you weren't there to ruin it."

"Was that it, or was it the presence of some violinist that heightened your spirits?"

Gray eyes locked with the sarcastic blacks. "You should stop fucking around with Abe."

"You should stop fucking around period, but that's not stopping you, is it?"

Haruka shook her head. "I'm not creating the drama between members, you may."

"Don't worry blondie, we're both adults, we can handle it." Sanu pressed a few keys as the program loaded.

"Whatever, I'm going home."

"Yeah, take her with you, she looks out of place."

"Huh?" Haruka turneattend followed Sanu's pointing finger with her eyes, only to find a goddess in white standing in the middle of the ramp. Haruka slowly walked up to the reason for her lack of sleep, waiting for Michiru to dash out of the way. She stopped a foot away, looking into the ocean blues. "What are you doing here?"

"I was bored, but so were you, judging by your early departure."

Haruka half-smiled at Michiru's observance. "Your dress will get dirty."

"I thought you didn't care for my feelings." Michiru cocked an eyebrow.

"I care for the garment. It's gorgeous."

"Thank you. I was thinking of you when I bought it." Michiru's voice lowered to a murmur.

"Is that so?" Haruka looked at her challengingly.

"It is." Michiru smiled.

"Care to share the thoughts?" Haruka was itching to touch her, but kept herself in check.

"Yes, I was thinking that I needed to restore some purity in me after you've dirtied me with your lesbian touch."

"Successfully so?"

"No, a dress only cleanses the appearance. It doesn't reach beyond that."

"It seems to me that with you it's all about appearances, so what lays beyond the dress?"

"Why don't you find out?" Michiru whispered, while still managing to keep her challenging brow up.

Haruka wasn't going to wait for another invitation, wasn't going to ask for an affirmation. She had given enough warnings, she had suffered enough unreleased desire. She quietly walked around the violinist and opened the passenger door of her car. "Coming?"

"Where are we going?" Michiru slowly approached the car.

"Somewhere your dress will not get dirty."

**x x x  
**

Michiru first expected Haruka to take her to her place, but then realized that someone who doesn't care for relationships perhaps would not do so. Her next thought was one of those hotels where you pay per hour, but they ended up neither here nor there. The Enzo pulled up to a boutique upscale hotel, where Michiru was helped out of the car by a polite valet. Haruka walked around the car, tipped the valet and wrapped her arm around Michiru's waist as they walked through the front door. Less than five minutes later they were in a tastefully decorated room, staring at each other.

"I didn't realize underworld creatures frequented upscale hotels," Michiru murmured, setting her purse on a side table.

"You wouldn't realize if underworld creatures ruled the world, mermaid. You didn't even know about our existence a month ago." She brushed a strand of hair out of Michiru's face.

"You just don't come across as someone who appreciates beauty or luxury."

Haruka chuckled bitterly. "Luxury and beauty are two different things, mermaid. Your house is luxurious, but it's ugly. I can care less for luxury, but I value beauty. This room happens to be both, and so are you."

She covered the coral-tinted lips before Michiru came up with any other way to distract her. The corks on the bottles of their desire came out with a loud pop, as both lost themselves in a passionate kiss. Michiru finally pulled away, sliding her hands to the lapels of Haruka's jacket. "I love your suit."

"Uh huh." Haruka's lips found Michiru's again.

Michiru unbuttoned the jacket and moved her hands to Haruka's shoulders, pushing the garment off. She looked at the tag and pulled away in surprise.

"Armani?" She let the jacket slide to the floor. "Where does an underground rat get an Armani suit from?"

Haruka's lips traveled down the long neck to Michiru's collarbone. "The closet."

"Whose closet?" Michiru's hands stroked the silk tie before loosening it and taking it off.

"Not yours." Haruka's hands moved along the hidden zipper on Michiru's back.

"No kidding."

"Are you talking to make yourself comfortable?" Haruka looked at the ocean blues before capturing Michiru's lips again and silencing whatever answer she was going to get.

Michiru's body tensed as she felt the lock of the zipper slide down her back, allowing Haruka's hands to slip inside her dress. Haruka's mouth traveled down to the top of Michiru's dress, her teeth moved the soft material down, exposing the perky breasts. Michiru's breath caught as wet mouth took possession of her nipple, sucking on it, then teasing it with a hard tongue. Michiru finally made her hands move, unbuttoning the black shirt and taking it off the blonde, until it got stuck on Haruka's wrists.

"Sorry, I'm not as experienced in undressing people as you are." Michiru smiled shyly as Haruka pulled away and uncuffed her sleeves. Michiru's eyes widened as she saw the tight bindings around Haruka's chest.

Haruka caught her stare and smirked. "You didn't actually think that I don't have breasts, did you?"

Despite the absence of such thoughts, Michiru turned red before she reached for what looked like an edge of the binding and undid it.

"Trust me, it's a lot easier to remove than a bra." Haruka's mouth curled before she threw her shirt to the floor and brought Michiru back in her embrace, naked chest to naked chest. Haruka watched Michiru's reaction, despite the absence of that knowledge on the smaller woman's part. It was the most gratifying torture she has put herself through in as long as she could remember. It took a lot of restraint to not simply tear the clothes off and devour Michiru like a beast, but it was well worth it, because every time Haruka stepped away or slowed down, she came back to the never ending fountain of pleasure. She moved Michiru in the direction of the bed, lowered her down on the soft material as she took the white garment off, and deposited it on the floor. She looked at the gorgeous woman splayed on the beige cover and lost her last lucid thought.


	7. Not Mine

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Not | Mine**

Michiru woke up in the middle of the night curled up around another human being. She has never slept with anyone in her life and the realization took her by surprise, before the memories flooded in and a deep blush covered her face. She, of course, was not a judge of skills in this arena, but she somehow felt that she was learning from the best. She looked at Haruka's face and was startled by the midnight-blue eyes that were studying her.

"You're awake," Michiru whispered.

"I don't sleep well in unfamiliar beds."

It felt very satisfying to know that about the fearless, sarcastic and harsh racer that Michiru knew outside of the bedroom. She wondered how many people knew the softer side and hoped that she was one of the chosen few. "I don't sleep with people."

Haruka smiled teasingly. "Neither do I." She propped herself on the elbow, touching the porcelain cheek with her fingertips. "I do know of another way we could spend some hours of this night, though."

"Oh?" Michiru raised a brow, feeling her body respond to the caress.

"How do you feel about water?" Haruka took the wide grin on Michiru's face as a positive answer and pulled her out of bed, heading towards the bathroom. Michiru sighed in appreciation at the sight of a wide jacuzzi next to a large window overlooking the Tokyo skyline. "You got the water, the view, and me. What else do you need from life?" Haruka baited.

"Nothing."

Haruka's smirk disappeared from her face at the seriousness of Michiru's tone. "Michi -"

Michiru put the tips of her fingers against Haruka's lips, not letting her finish. "I know, it's just a magical night, not a relationship. Just let me enjoy it."

Haruka gave her another unsure glance before turning the water and pulling the naked woman in the tub. She turned the jets on and smiled. Yes, there was a number of ways one could use those… and she was intending to share her knowledge on the subject with the mermaid who was swimming with her tonight.

**x x x  
**

The light filled the room when Michiru opened her eyes at the sound of a gentle knock on the door. She propped herself on her elbows and looked around, finding a white robe at the foot of the bed, but no sign of Haruka. She sighed and put the robe on, then walked to the door.

"Breakfast miss," a maid announced with a bow. Michiru allowed her to enter the suite and set the tray on the side table. She thanked the middle-aged woman and watched her leave before she looked at the food and noticed a small note by her purse. She grabbed the hotel-logoed piece of paper and unfolded it carefully, already guessing what it said.

_Morning Mermaid,_

_Enjoy your breakfast, your dress should be dry-cleaned by the time you're done. I believe you have the means of getting home, so that would be the only thing you need to worry about, everything else has been taken care of. _

_I will see you around. _

_TH_

Michiru folded the note back and put it in her purse, then took her cellphone out. She dialed Jun's number and gave him the address before taking the tray and getting comfortable on the bed. She wondered as she chewed on her breakfast and sipped on the hot green tea if she would ever have enough pieces to put together the puzzle that was Haruka. It was almost like every time she thought she figured something out, the blonde would do something completely out of character. For example, just last week Haruka yelled at her telling her that she belonged in a castle and not with the rough people of the 'underworld.' Michiru looked around the room. That was certainly more like a castle and not like the places she had visited with Haruka before.

Then there was the assumption that Haruka has never mingled with Michiru's societal circle, yet she knew someone at the ball when Michiru met her and she was at the benefit last night. Michiru had no idea what Haruka did, other than racing, but she was starting to wonder what all the planning for the gang involved and what it was exactly that Haruka did during the day. So far, Michiru got to meet two Harukas: a rough and cocky one, the one that dressed in jeans and shirts, cursed left and right and was always in somebody's face; and then there was another. One that wore designer suits, attended social events and acted up to par with people there, and preferred taste to luxury. One Haruka drank cheap alcohol, the other payed not less than half a thousand dollars in one night for a hotel. Michiru had no idea how the two could be reconciled in one person, but she was intending to learn as much as she could.

**x x x  
**

Eiko was pacing the living room when Michiru finally got home. "Where have you been?"

Michiru raised a brow, switching her purse from one hand to the other. "I was enjoying myself, like you wanted me to."

"It's past noon, Michiru, I've been worried sick."

"Welcome to the beauty of parenthood, mother. It only took you twenty-three years to get here."

"Don't you dare lecture me on my parenting skills, I raised you into who you are, so remember your manners, young lady," Eiko replied in a dangerously low voice.

"You didn't seem to care about my manners just a few weeks ago," Michiru replied evenly.

"A few weeks ago you spent your nights at home."

"Don't worry, mother, I'm an adult, you don't have to set a curfew for me. Neither do you have to worry about me getting pregnant since you know perfectly well that that wouldn't happen with Haruka." Michiru was barely holding in her anger. The fact that her mother made it sound like Haruka was a man still made her blood boil.

"You slept with her?" Eiko's eyes widened.

"That's none of your business," Michiru breathed out, attempting to restore her cool.

"Everything about you is my business, you're my daughter!" Eiko snapped.

"I'm only doing what you wanted me to do! You set me up with Haruka, you even lied about her gender!" Michiru finally gave into temptation.

"Michiru, I wanted her to take you out on a couple of dates, go dancing, have fun. Her gender didn't matter for that. I never meant for the two of you to get involved." Eiko looked at the ocean blue eyes lovingly. "I don't want you to get hurt."

Michiru laughed bitterly. "It's inevitable at this point, mother."

Eiko closed her eyes, knowing the pain Michiru felt inside, even if the younger woman didn'tt show it outwardly. Once Eiko looked at her daughter again, she did what she did best nowadays - she hid her feelings and smirked at Michiru. "You had sex with her? After _three_ dates?"

"I guess I can be as shameless as you are." Michiru raised her chin.

"How was she?" Eiko grinned.

"Oh my god, mother!" Michiru squealed before turning around and stomping upstairs, towards the confines of her room.

Eiko watched her go, her sarcastic grin disappearing from her face as soon as her daughter was out of sight. Instead, a deep frown skewed her beautiful features. It scared Eiko how fast Michiru dove down into something that wasn't her element. She felt like her daughter was starting to spin out of control, but that didn't seem like the reserved, calm and logical Michiru she knew. So, Eiko shook off the nagging concern and figured that time would show where life would take them. Eiko seeing herself in Michiru and thinking that the young woman would deal with things as they come, as Eiko herself had earlier in her life, was the worst mistake she has ever made. One that she would regret sorely in the not so distant future.

**x x x  
**

Ocean-blue eyes watched as the Enzo pulled into the large field, and Haruka and another blonde stepped out of the car. Michiru sipped on her drink as the blonde whispered something in Haruka's ear before nibbling on it and stepping away. Dark blues connected with the ocean ones and Haruka raised a challenging eyebrow. Michiru smiled in response, taking another sip and not moving.

Haruka walked up to the back of the pick up truck Michiru was standing by, where Hiro was setting up the electronics. She slid her hand to Michiru's waist and made her move away from the truck and into the embrace.

"Having fun?" Michiru cocked a brow.

"I am, are you?" Haruka's voice was void of any emotion.

"Wow, you sound like you actually care," Michiru teased.

"Michiru -"

"I know, I'm sorry, I was out of line." Michiru plastered a fake smile across her face. "Can we kiss and make up?"

Haruka searched Michiru's face before she gave in and captured the luscious lips with her own. After exploring the alluring mouth, Haruka moved her mouth to Michiru's neck, turning the smaller woman around and kissing a sensitive spot under Michiru's jaw. She looked at Hiro loading the software without stopping what she was doing. She wrapped her hands around Michiru's waist, and Michiru's came to rest on top of Haruka's. "How are we doing, Maedo?"

Hiro threw them an unimpressed glance before launching the software used to track police cars. "Fine."

"Okay, let me know when you need anything."

Hiro threw her another glance. "How the hell am I supposed to find you in the middle of the field?"

"Call me or, better yet, give me one of the walkies." Haruka caught the small radio Hiro threw and pulled Michiru into the darkness.

**x x x  
**

There were few things that Michiru had learned in the past couple of months. None of them helped her figure out the puzzle she called 'Haruka,' but all of them helped her deal with Haruka. Michiru knew the day she woke up alone in bed, after having the most magical night in her life, that Haruka was not someone you could tame. If Michiru wanted to ever have the blonde's affection again, Michiru had to learn to share, to give Haruka freedom to do whatever she wanted. It was by no means easy, but she stepped over her own feelings, pride included, the next time she saw the racer at the weekly outing. Haruka was kissing someone when Michiru got there, so the violinist pushed her feelings down and plastered a look of indifference on her face. Her approach seemed to work because no matter how many women Haruka had been with in the past two months, she has never denied Michiru's affections, in fact, she came to Michiru most of the time. Naturally, the situation would never be Michiru's choice, but she figured that being in an acquaintance with benefits status with Haruka was much better than having no status at all.

Another thing Michiru noticed was that despite Haruka's habit of bed hopping, she was very possessive of Michiru. The violinist had mixed feelings on the subject: on one hand it seemed unfair that the blonde would demand exclusivity when she herself provided none (not that Michiru has ever outwardly demanded that). On the other hand, Michiru reasoned that if Haruka was jealous of other people, she must have had at least some sort of feelings towards Michiru; or so Michiru hoped.

Michiru had also learned a great deal about the weekends. She learned that the races held every Friday were different, the type of each one was decided by the votes of club members the week before. They ranged in venue, type and size. For example, the race tonight was off-road and the crowd was very small in comparison to the other races Michiru has witnessed. As far as the rest of the weekend went, Michiru found out that there was always an after-party, not necessarily in the same place where the race was held, otherwise there would be a large bonfire going in the field by now, but somewhere in the undergrounds of Tokyo. The partying did not stop there, though, it continued through Saturday and into Sunday. While many people took advantage of the weekend life, Michiru noticed that Haruka generally did not appear at any events other than those scheduled for Fridays. That was not to say that Michiru did the same; she has found a whole new circle of friends and did not miss an opportunity to socialize with them over the weekend. Unless, of course, her real life called on her with some kind of duty in a form of a concert or other appearance.

Michiru had also gained a great deal of knowledge on Haruka's second favorite subject matter: sex. She was currently using that particular knowledge next to a tree in the middle of a dark field. Michiru's hands traveled under Haruka's shirt and she smiled confidently at another thing she had learned as her fingers gently traveled along a long scar on Haruka's back.

**x x x  
**

It was during their second stay at a hotel that Michiru had enough courage to openly explore Haruka's body. They had just finished their first round of steamy sex and Haruka was laying on her stomach, her left arm hanging off the bed. Michiru straddled her blonde lover and looked at the exposed back. Haruka's skin was flawless and surprisingly soft, so unlike its owner's character. There were no imperfections, that Michiru noticed, anywhere except for her back. Her back, starting with her left side, looked like a treasure map. Michiru gently put her fingertips on a long thin scar that traveled almost the length of Haruka's back. Haruka tensed as the fingers caressed her back, making Michiru wonder even more what the history of each scar was. "Where is it from?"

Haruka turned her head sideways and fruitlessly tried to relax back into the pillow. "Childhood."

"How?" Michiru whispered, her gentle caress continuing.

"Adolescent know-how." Haruka remembered the street kids who tried to mimic samurai motions with a long butcher knife they found in a ditch. She was still surprised that she hadn't gotten some life-threatening infection from that piece of metal.

"Huh?"

"It doesn't matter."

"What's this?" Michiru's fingers moved to a round circle, about an inch in diameter, where the skin was darker and wrinkled. As her fingers touched the spot, she was surprised to find out that it was softer than the rest of the body and felt like it covered a dip in the muscular back.

"A reminder to always keep your eyes on your back," Haruka said slowly, remembering the day she was shot by a gang member, whose territory she had the misfortune to step into.

"These?" Michiru traced the small scars that started at the side.

"An acceleration in learning curve." Those were the only surgical scars Haruka had from her first car accident when her lung collapsed and had to be drained of fluid.

"What -"

"See," Haruka turned around, grabbed Michiru's wrists and pulled her close. "This is exactly why I keep my shirt on when I have sex, saves me a lot of explanations."

"I believe you were the one who tore it off earlier."

"I shouldn't be this reckless next time," Haruka murmured.

"The cat is already out of the bag, what's the point?" Michiru reasoned.

"The point is there are better ways to use your mouth than talk."

"Maybe you should make me."

"With pleasure."

**x x x  
**

"Just because you know that I have those, you don't need to gloat every time you get me to yourself," Haruka mumbled into Michiru's breast as the fingers moved along the scars. Michiru smiled wider before moving her hands to more sensitive areas of Haruka's body. Haruka shivered with pleasure. In response, she dropped down to her knees and let her hands travel up Michiru's legs, up to the short skirt. She placed butterfly kisses along the inside of Michiru's thigh, debating whether to tear the underwear off, or just push it aside.

"Tenoh, stop fucking around and get your ass to the command post," an annoyed voice grumbled from the radio in Haruka's pants.

"Demon?"

Haruka chuckled at the nickname Michiru has officially given to Sanu. "More like the satan himself for interrupting." She pulled the radio out and pressed a button, raising it to her face. "What do you want, Sanu?"

"I'm going to the start line, apparently it takes two inept people to run the finish line."

"Don't judge everyone on your scale." Haruka buttoned her shirt with one hand, regretfully watching Michiru fix up her clothes as well.

"Fuck off."

Haruka pocketed the walkie at the sound of static. "Sorry mermaid, play time would have to wait."

Michiru smiled at Haruka, placed a quick kiss on her lips and walked away, swaying her hips. '_Damn woman,'_ Haruka sighed as she followed the violinist.

They came back to the area where cars were parked - a large circle lit by the headlights, arranged to allow those present to see each other. There were no screens or speakers, the race was to be held on unpaved country roads, between the rice fields, and to be finished at this uncultivated, barren spot. Michiru watched the blonde communicate with Sanu as the race was set up and started, sipping on a new drink she got from one of the trucks. They all watched for the headlights to appear, but the first one to come wasn't one of the competitors. Sanu and his crew, taking the paved roads, made their way back first. They piled out of the cars, joining the others. Haruka was holding a timer in her hand, waiting for the racers to come. She walked up to Michiru and gave her a sizzling kiss, bored of staring into dark nothingness. Haruka pulled away as the first set of headlights appeared in the distance, walked to the orange line that served to denote the finish and stopped the timer as the winner came through.

Four other off-road vehicles pulled shortly after, losers taking comfort in consolation of their friends. Haruka turned towards the middle of the circle and froze as her eyes fell on Sanu. He was holding Michiru within the circle of his muscled arms, his rough mouth was covering Michiru's lips. Without so much as giving it any thought, Haruka walked up to the couple and put all of her force into the punch as Sanu let go of Michiru. Sanu fell to the ground on his back, spitting blood to his side and flexing his jaw. In the next moment Michiru was held by his friends while Sanu got back to his feet, holding a barrel of a gun that he drew from behind his back against Haruka's forehead. It seemed like everyone who was present at the scene just froze and the time stopped.

"What the fuck, Sanu?" someone finally shouted and was completely ignored by the dark-haired man as he released the safety on his gun.

"You are out of line," Haruka finally forced out, her body as rigid as a peace of steel.

"No, shit-head, you are." Sanu spat the blood to the ground again.

"Lower the gun, or I will bring your violation of the rules to the Wings' attention."

"Violation of the rules?" Sanu asked sarcastically, cocking his head to the side.

"Safety rule 7.0: 'No weapon may be brought to the premises. The sanction for breaking this rule is unequivocal exclusion from the club.'" Haruka swallowed slowly as she finished her statement. The cool barrel was set snugly against the hot skin of her forehead.

"No shit. Safety rule 7.1: 'An exception may be made in the event where a weapon is used in the common interest or safety of the club.' Don't forget who wrote the rules, moron," Sanu sneered.

"How do your actions qualify under that exception, precisely?" Haruka asked as the beads of sweat collected at her hairline.

"You have become a threat."

Haruka stared at him like he just got madder. "Excuse me?"

"You have lost your touch, Tenoh, your priorities are no longer straight."

"Who are you to tell me about my priorities?" Haruka's tone became harsher as her anger raged inside.

"You," Sanu pushed the barrel harder against her forehead before pulling it back a bit, "Could never keep your pants zipped long enough, that's not a secret; but it's never been a problem during the race. She..." Sanu pointed at Michiru, who was barely breathing in the strong hold of his friends. "...has completely fucked you up. You can't concentrate, so you're a danger to all of us."

Haruka listened to his words, trying to find a response and failing miserably.

"Haruka I know would never lower her guard long enough for me to pull a gun out. You have lost your touch and gave into your irrational feelings. Figure this shit out, or you're out." Sanu took a step back, put the safety back on and hid his gun behind the belt of his black jeans. "Let's go." He waved at his crew. They released Michiru and followed him out of the small crowd of people that stepped aside as they approached.

Haruka watched them go, still frozen in the same spot, in the same position. Her brain tried to process everything that just happened and find a fault in Sanu's reasoning. The truth of the matter was, if she was in his place, she would do exactly the same.

"I thought you said they only barked," Michiru finally whispered to Hiro, who appeared near her.

"I may've been drunk at that point." He scratched the back of his head nervously before walking to the truck and packing the gear.

"Are you okay?" Michiru walked to the statuesque blonde.

Haruka looked at her for a long moment, still trying to make up her mind. Finally, she sighed: "We're done."

"What?" Michiru ran behind Haruka as the blonde quickly walked to her car.

"We're done, Michiru. You and I, whatever it is we had, it's over." Haruka opened the door.

"You are going to let him tell you what to do?" Michiru yelled.

"I don't let anyone tell me what to do, mermaid. Not him, not you. We're done, and that's final." Haruka lowered herself in the seat and closed the door, ignoring the angry woman who stood next to her car. She started the engine and drove out of the field to the solitude of her home.

**x x x  
**

Michiru didn't feel like partying after what happened that night, so she called Jun and went straight home. To her surprise and displeasure, both her mother and her stepfather were still awake, despite the fact that it was one twenty in the morning. Michiru walked in the living room and stared at the two figures watching television.

"Why are you still up?"

EIko turned around, making sure that her daughter was dressed at least semi-appropriate for Hideo. Michiru tightened the belt of her black coat at her mother's look and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Hideo had a press conference earlier today, we're watching the rerun."

"A press conference?" Michiru sat down in a chair, not in the least bothered by the fact that she was wearing a coat. "What for?"

Hideo muted the TV and turned to face her. "We have created a special safety oversight committee, which was announced today in the press conference. I will be the head of the committee, heads of many bureaus within the city will report to me on the issue."

"What issue?" Michiru relaxed into the chair, crossing her legs.

"Street safety. I'm sure you have heard that there have been incidents of illegal racing on the streets of Tokyo in the past. We are intending to put a stop to that once and for all. Those insolents need to be put in their place, which is behind bars."

Michiru's ears perked up as she shared a quick glance with her mother. "I see."

Hideo shook his head at his own thoughts and pressed the volume button. Michiru watched him speak on television, not listening to what he was saying. Instead, she was wondering if Haruka knew about this and how that would change what Haruka did. Her spine straightened as a dark-haired man with a goatee walked up to the podium and took Hideo's spot. Michiru silenced her thoughts and willed her mind to listen to what he was saying.

"_...have been putting our citizens in danger for too many years. It is our full intention to have cross-agency cooperation in order to apprehend those responsible for the hosting of illegal drag racing and those who participate in that illegal activity…"_

Michiru wanted to rub her eyes to make sure that her vision wasn't deceiving her. She closed them instead and opened them again. The man who held gun to Haruka's head just a few hours ago, the man who cost her whatever non-relationship she had with Haruka, was standing at the podium, talking about apprehension of the members of the Wing of Night.

Michiru turned her head slowly to her stepfather. "Hideo, who is that?"

Hideo looked at her for a moment before turning back to the rerun and answering. "This is Superintendent General Sanu Daiki, the head of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department."


	8. Call Me Crazy

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**Call Me Crazy**

Haruka opened her eyes in the predawn hours of a Saturday morning. It was rather usual for her to wake up by six every day, the only difference was that on Saturdays she was generally still awake from the night before around that time. Today was different because last night she went to bed uncharacteristically early. The experience of having a gun to her head and the realization that she was losing her composure made it easy to simply crash once the adrenalin rush was over.

She sat on the bed and threw her feet to the cold concrete floor. Her head habitually turned to the large window on her right, where the bay lay. She got up and threw on some workout clothes, after a moment's hesitation she checked her cell phone that she silenced the night before. Not surprisingly, she had at least a dozen of missed calls from Michiru. Haruka sighed and threw the device back on the night stand. She turned on her built-in stereo system, which allowed her to listen to the sound coming out of the speakers throughout the house, found some appropriate music and walked to a room adjacent to her bedroom. A room that served as her private little gym. Haruka turned on the treadmill that faced the bay and watched the sunrise as she ran for miles, until her mind was completely and utterly exhausted, even if her body still had energy in it. She wiped her sweat-stricken face with a small towel and went on to work on her abs.

After making the muscles throughout her body sore and feeling invigorated and more alive than she was when she'd rolled out of bed, she walked to the bathroom and took a rewarding shower. Haruka put a pair of dark blue jeans and a lilac form-fitting dress shirt on and walked to the kitchen. She surveyed the contents of her refrigerator before grabbing a box of take-out sushi that was left over from one of the nights before. She waited for the water to boil in the tea pot and then for the green leaves to unfold in the hot water, infusing it with taste. She grabbed the cup, the box and some chopsticks and walked to her favorite chair. She set her breakfast on the low coffee table and flipped on the razor-thin LED TV on the wall. The news channel recapped everything that she missed out on last night and, judging by what she was hearing, she had missed something very important. Sanu Daiki answered reporters' questions in the rerun while she finished her sushi. Gulping down the rest of her tea, Haruka turned the TV off. She discarded the empty box, rinsed the cup and chopsticks and was on her way to the shop.

It was around nine in the morning when Haruka drove into an average-looking mechanic's garage. She parked her car in one of the empty bays and made her way to the back room, where she locked the door securely behind her. Everything inside looked as average as the outside: the back room was filled with shelves full of parts and tools. There was a table and some chairs for the workers to sit at. Haruka walked between two tall shelves and pressed a combination on her cellphone, making a part of the floor slide sideways and reveal a metal staircase. She walked down, put the sliding part of the floor in place and flipped the lights on. It was a small room filled with shelves and some tables, just like the room above, only there was nothing ordinary about it. A set of electronic devices used during the races sat on one of the tables, left there by Hiro some hours earlier that night. More monitors occupied one of the walls, a single laptop sat on the counter underneath. Shelves were filled with books, binders and maps. Another desk housed a number of external hard drives, right next to a quietly humming server. Haruka flipped a wooden chair with its back towards the counter and straddled it, opening the slim laptop. She checked her e-mail and, sure enough, there were e-mails from 'clients' worrying about the current state of their 'financial portfolios.' Haruka sighed and buried her face in the palms of her hands. How did they get here without her being ready to respond to them yesterday? She knew about the formation of the committee for the past two months, how did she miss the day of the public announcement?

She was off her game and she knew very well that Michiru was the reason for it. The woman made her feel like no one has ever had before. It wasn't just the blinding passion, it was more. She cared. From the first date, despite everything she told Michiru, she cared. Had she not cared, she would've left the smaller woman at the salsa club when she passed out, blocked Eiko's phone number and avoided both the blonde and her daughter forever, but she didn't do that. No, she continuously put herself in a position to get involved in something she didn't want to be involved in: a relationship. Yes, Michiru gave her room to sleep around, but Haruka wasn't stupid, neither was she blind. They say that the man is the head and the woman is the neck, so the head turns the way the neck does in a relationship… well guess what, Michiru may have thought that she was the neck, but Haruka wasn't a man! She saw through the act, despite all those masks Michiru always had in place.

The sad part of this whole disaster of a non-relationship relationship was that Haruka only slept with someone else once in the past two months because it turned out to be not as satisfying as having mind blowing sex with Michiru. That was the problem. She kept thinking about her, wanting her. It was never enough. It interfered with her duties, it messed with her head and she ended up on the wrong side of a barrel of a gun because of it. As obnoxious as it was, she needed that wakeup call. That didn't mean that she wouldn't beat the hell out of Sanu Daiki the next time she saw him, but she was grateful that he shook her out of it. After watching the news she understood his reasoning a lot more. _'I missed his god damn press conference. How could I miss that?'_

She pulled at her blonde locks in frustration and groaned. _'Fuck. What to do now?'_ She stared unseeingly at the illuminated screen before sending out an e-mail with the date for an emergency meeting, hoping that she would have a plan by the time she faced them.

**x x x  
**

"Hiro, have you seen Haruka around?" Michiru startled the young man who was involved in a shooting game on the computer in his lap. "Are you playing? What about setting up and everything?" She kept looking from his face to the screen.

"I dunno if there is a race tonight, I'm just waitin'." He returned back to the screen.

"What do you mean? I thought races were held every Friday?"

"They are." He kept clicking on the pad, not paying much attention to the aggravated woman next to him.

"Hiro, today is Friday."

"Really? Cuz I thought I was sitting here, in the back of a pickup, on a parking ramp, because I love it."

Michiru looked around in frustration. There were very few cars and people seemed to be doing nothing but talking, it didn't look like any of the times when they had a race. "So why aren't you sure?" She decided to ignore his sarcasm.

"Cuz I don't make those decisions."

"Who does?" Michiru pressed.

"The Wings."

"Well, where are they?"

"Are you a spy?" Hiro finally looked at her.

"Excuse me?" Michiru even took a step away from the pickup in surprise.

"You're asking way too many questions." He eyed her skeptically.

"Hiro, I need to talk to Haruka, there is something she needs to know." Michiru gave up.

"Somethin' like what?"

"Something important. I need to talk to her, where is she?"

"She's in a meeting." Hiro turned back to his game.

"A meeting? What meeting?"

"Shit you're annoying!" Hiro got up and jumped off the bed of the truck. "The Wings are meeting, leave me alone." He walked to the cabin and locked himself in, where he opened the laptop and continued his game from the relative safety of an enclosed space. At least there he could ignore Michiru completely.

**x x x  
**

Haruka was exhausted. She has also been cursing Sasake for picking their meeting venue for the past three hours, ever since she got there. Whoever said that meeting at the opera was a good idea? Especially to discuss something? They had to wait until the intermission and she was bored to tears during the actual performance, while trying as hard as she could not to strangle the man.

Haruka threw her tie on the passenger seat and turned into the parking ramp. They decided to take a break from racing under the circumstances and instead arranged for the club members to meet at the ramp and be debriefed. Unfortunately, she was the one who had to do that, so her night was a long way from being over. Haruka unbuttoned the top three buttons as she got out of the car and walked to the pickup. What she didn't expect was to see Michiru sitting on the bed of said pickup, legs dangling, eying Haruka.

"What are you doing here?" Haruka put her hands in her pockets and stood at the back of the truck.

"Good Evening to you too, Haruka, and how have you been? I'm fine, thank you for asking."

"Michiru, if you were a bit too excited when I said it last time, I'll say it again: there is nothing between us. I will even go further: I don't care how you've been, what you've been up to and what you're intending to do." That was a first good lie Haruka has pulled in as long as she could remember. Perhaps it came easy because she was lying to herself as much as she was lying to Michiru.

Michiru stifled a sigh and got off the pickup. "Well, I do care, so, sorry about caring enough to find you to tell you something you have to know. Maybe if you picked up your phone, you would have avoided dealing with me in person."

Haruka didn't even flinch from the nastiness in Michiru's tone. "What was so important that you called me every day for the past week, Michiru?"

"I called you to let you know that I saw the stupid demon on television when I got home that night. Sanu works for the police, did you know that?"

Haruka stared at Michiru's smug expression. It was comforting to know that someone cared about them enough to mention this, on the other hand… did she think she was going to get on Haruka's good side by portraying Daiki as a bad guy?

"Michiru, he doesn't just work for the police, he's the head of the department." Haruka watched as the smugness disappeared from Michiru's face, replaced by surprise. "Did you for so much as a second think that we don't know that one of us is a cop? Shit, woman, we're not stupid or naive, we would long be in prison if we were."

"So you know?" Michiru whispered.

"Of course I know, Michiru, he's a public figure! I would be blind not to know." Haruka saw disappointment on the younger woman's face and felt rage build inside of her at the notion that Michiru thought she could manipulate her. "Did you think that I would run for comfort to you if I found out that there was a cop among us, grateful for the information you've provided?"

Michiru didn't answer, she just swallowed her tears, watching the anger build in the cold grays. "He put a gun to your head," she finally forced.

"And I would've done the same if I was him!"

"What right does he have to do that?" Michiru finally screamed, letting all the pent up anger come out.

"He is one of the Wings, Michiru, if we don't keep each other in check, we fall! He had every right to bring me back to reality. These people," she pointed at the people standing quietly around them, "they all depend on us. They are the members of this club, a club that is run by five gang members. Daiki and I started that gang, started the club, he has every right to shake me back to reality when I do something that jeopardizes everything we've worked for."

Haruka breathed heavily, her anger no longer controlled by anything. "You, on the other hand, have no power over me and have no right whatsoever to manipulate me. Do not cross me Michiru, you don't want to be on my bad side. Now get out of here, this is a member-only meeting, and you're not one of us." Haruka closed her eyes as she finished, fighting with the mixed feelings that were threatening to overtake her anger. When she opened her eyes, Michiru was gone, and she was met with inquiring eyes of just a little under thirty people who could make it there that night.

**x x x  
**

Michiru pulled a bottle of sake out of the cupboard and made her way upstairs. She got to her room and locked the door, climbed on the bed and opened the bottle. She felt like she went through the worst roller coaster ride of her life, one that made her feel like she wanted to empty the contents of her stomach, but she couldn't let go of the safety bar that held her in the seat. The violinist Kaioh Michiru, who met a certain blonde at a ball few months ago, would look at the woman sitting on the bed, nursing the bottle, as though she was a lowlife. She would call her irrational, appalling and pathetic. She would raise her chin up high and say that she herself would never stoop that low.

The woman sitting on the bed blocked her inner voice and concentrated on the feeling that has overtaken her entire being. The further she was from the blonde, the worse the blonde treated her, the more she wanted to be right there, next to her. The more she wanted to know Haruka, the more she wanted Haruka to care. It was one thing Michiru could not have in her life, so she just had to have it, no matter the cost.

**x x x  
**

Haruka pulled in the garage and killed the engine. She didn't care about turning the lights on, heading for her bedroom through the moonlight bathed house. She stopped in her tracks at the sight of a silhouette of a man sitting in one of the chairs.

"I checked your security system for you, it seems not as secure as you may think," he drawled.

"It's meant to have a glitch in case I die in my sleep. Someone needs to find my corpse." She took a seat in the other chair, stretching her feet on the table.

"I'm honored that you'd think of me as your backup plan," Sanu Daiki replied without mirth.

"Don't let it get to your head, I might still kill you before I ever need that option."

"I can't see the future, but I doubt you'll die in your sleep either way."

"Yes, that's entirely possible, especially when some mother fucker puts a gun to my face. What the fuck, Daiki? You've lost the ability to speak and needed to show off in front of everybody?"

"You needed a wakeup call, you never listen to words."

"You could have tried," Haruka argued.

"I'm trying right now," he replied evenly.

"Why are you here?" Haruka eyed his relaxed posture, his sinful features; he really did look like a demon.

"We need to talk about the Kaioh girl."

Haruka's hand involuntarily formed a fist before she forced it to relax. "What is there to talk about other than you forcing a tongue down her throat?"

Daiki squinted his eyes. "I was making a point." They stared at each other for a long moment before he continued. "She is Shimizu's daughter, we have to be careful around her. Who knows what her reason for hanging out around us is."

Haruka considered that possibility when she first found out that Shimizu Hideo was going to head the commission. Though it was entirely possible and would be very smart for someone to do so, Haruka was certain that Michiru was not collecting information for the government. She had ample opportunities to find out something more than just information satisfying someone's healthy curiosity, but she never used them. Besides, there was the incident tonight. Haruka smiled. "I find it quite ironic that you both finger each other out the same night."

"What?"

"She came to tell me that you're a cop today, thinking that that was valuable information I should know. You come to tell me that you think she's gathering intel for her _step_ father. It's almost poetic."

"Poetic?" Daiki looked at her strangely. "Are you sure that's the right word?"

"Screw you, Daiki. Just because you went to school and I didn't, doesn't mean you know more than I do, nor that your knowledge is of a better quality. Where I got myself to actually shows how many brains I have, especially compared to you."

"Back to the subject, my tiny brain can't take all of your bullshit," he teased.

Haruka massaged her temples as she gave it another thought. "I don't think she's a problem, at least not in the sense you're thinking. She doesn't behave like someone capable or competent to do what you're afraid of."

Daiki finally nodded in response. "Watch her. Make sure you're right. What about her being a problem in the other sense?"

Haruka's fingers froze on her temples as she brought her eyes to lock with the black ones. "What sense would that be?"

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about."

"I don't and if I did, I would tell you that it's none of your god damn business," Haruka said in a steely voice.

"It is if I make it be." Daiki stood up and looked at the blonde thoughtfully. "I'll be watching you. If you ever jeopardize the Wing of Night again, I may not stop myself from pulling the trigger."

Haruka looked at him, trying to figure out if he was bluffing, but unable to do so in the darkness of the house. She watched him walk to the door on the side of the pane of glass that separated the garage from the rest of the house and put his hand on the doorknob. Daiki turned around before pulling the door open. "And Haruka, seriously, change the combination. Using your birthday is just stupid." He pulled the door open and left the house.

Haruka slowly got up and walked to the security panel next to the door and set the alarm. She put the numbers in, completely disregarding the man's last words. Only four people knew what her real birth date was and two of them were dead.

**x x x**

Michiru walked through the busy club, periodically nodding to the people she knew. She was looking for someone, someone who could give her clues to the puzzle she was set on solving. She spotted a dark-haired woman in a short pink dress and decided to start with her. "Hi, Chi." Michiru hugged the younger girl in greeting. "How's the night going?"

Chiyo smiled at Michiru in her usual cheerful fashion before answering: "Oh, you know, same old."

"Can I get you a drink?"

"Um… sure." Chi chewed on her lower lip in thought.

"Sex on the beach?" Michiru smiled.

Chi nodded. "Uh huh."

Michiru walked to the bar and got two drinks. She was happy to see that Chi was still alone when she made her way back through the throng of dancing people. She spotted an empty booth in the lounge area and smiled again, this time internally. "Do you want to sit down?" She waved at the booth with her head as she approached Chi.

"Sure."

They made their way to the small enclosure with brown leather couches and assorted pillows. Michiru set the drinks on the narrow table that separated the two seating areas. They took seats opposite each other and sipped on their drinks. "Have you been here for a while?" Michiru asked, having decided to warm up the girl first.

"Yeah, it's been boring though." Chiyo looked around the club, perhaps in search of some entertainment.

"Sorry to hear that."

"Not your fault." Chyo smiled at the violinist. "So, you're enjoying the parties?"

"I do. It's fun, different, and I like the people."

"Uh huh. I'm sure some more than others."

Michiru hid her face behind her drink. "What do you mean?"

The brunette laughed melodically. "'tis okay, we all like Haruka."

"She's just so… mysterious," Michiru baited.

"She is." A thoughtful smile appeared on Chiyo's face.

"How long have you known her for?"

"Couple years. I mean it's been a couple years since I met her, but I really don't know her."

"How come?"

"She's just not the kind of person you know."

"Why?"

Chiyo sighed, setting her drink on the table. "Do you know her?"

Michiru bit on the inside of her cheek. "No, I don't."

"There you go."

"Yeah, but I've only met her a couple of months ago," Michiru prompted.

Chiyo grimaced. "Time doesn't matter. You find out more about her from here and there than from dealing with her, if you know what I mean."

"I do know what you mean, so what can you tell me about her?"

Chiyo stared at Michiru, surprised at the boldness of a woman who was shy just a few months ago. She knew Michiru was interested in Haruka, it was hard not to notice. She also knew that Haruka would definitely not like Chiyo telling Michiru anything about her. Which was exactly why she decided to tell her everything she knew. "She's an orphan. Few of us here are from good families or from families with money, but even fewer are from the streets, I mean literally. She's one of those. I think that's why a lot of people have given her respect in the beginning, though I wasn't around when that happened. We all like to act tough and crap, but she is tough, I guess you'd have to be if you lived out there."

Chiyo played with the straw of her drink as she thought of what else she knew. "I think she won the car that she drives in a bet, but I don't know the details…"

'_That makes sense.'_ Michiru still had no idea of Haruka's financial state, but she doubted that someone who could afford a car that cost as much as Enzo did would do what Haruka did.

"She is one of the Wings, but you know that…"

Chi seemed to be lost as to what else she knew, so Michiru decided to try a different strategy: ask questions. "How old is she?"

"I have no idea."

"Really?"

"Really."

Michiru sipped on her drink. "How long has she been doing this?"

"I've only been around for two years, I don't know… You should talk to Hiro, he knows a lot more about her than any of us do."

"Why?"

"They're friends."

Michiru really doubted that it would be as easy to get any information out of Hiro as it was out of Chi. He already got annoyed at her yesterday and she thought she was helping. "How many people has she slept with?"

Chiyo broke into fits of laughter that seemed to grow louder as the seconds passed. She was holding her stomach and tears had collected in the corners of her green eyes by the time she calmed down. "How many people has she not slept with?"

Michiru raised an eyebrow. "That bad?"

"Michi, she goes through girls like we're napkins. Walks in, grabs one and then discards it. Everyone knows it, but I've never heard anyone object."

"Why?"

"Because she's the best at what she does."

A slight blush appeared on Michiru's face as she remembered exactly what the blonde could do, or, rather, did to Michiru.

"Michi, I like you, you're a fun girl," Chiyo announced after some consideration. "Don't get hang up on her, I've seen people do it before, it's not pretty."

"I'm not."

"Uh huh. Trust me, you're not alone. We all like to think that we're that one special person that'll tame the beast. Don't waste your time."

Michiru nodded and smiled at the dark-haired girl in agreement, thinking all the while: _'There is always an exception.'_


	9. Heiro

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**He(i)ro**

Michiru was standing in front of her closet, trying to figure out what she wanted to wear for the night. It was still early, but she wanted to get an early start on the way she looked, especially because she was positively sure that she would see Haruka. And that she would have to look good if she wanted to get any information out of Hiro. She finally pulled a pair of black pinstriped shorts and a white tube top that hugged her figure like a glove. She tried them on and smiled in was surveying her new collection of high-heeled shoes when a door to her bedroom opened after a soft knock.

"Are you ready to -" Eiko stopped in her tracks at the sight of Michiru standing by the mirror dressed in short shorts, skimpy top and holding a tall boot in her hands. "Michiru, what are you wearing?"

"What do you mean? You dress like this all the time," Michiru teased mercilessly.

"Not to a state dinner I don't." Eiko narrowed her light blue eyes at her daughter's dumbfounded expression. "Did you forget we have a dinner to attend tonight?"

'_I did,'_ Michiru's own surprised voice sang in her head. "Can't you just find a reason to excuse me from it?"

"Michiru, this is very important to Hideo, we can't just excuse ourselves from it. You know that perfectly well."

Michiru did know that, she just didn't really care at the moment. What she cared about was figuring out her makeup and hairstyle that would go with her outfit and then getting to the race early enough to possibly find Hiro alone. "I'm sure an exception can be made. Tell him I'm not feeling well."

"Michiru, your priorities are mixed up, you're no longer the rational girl I know."

"No, mother," Michiru shook her head, "I just feel confident enough to admit that I don't give a shit about Hideo and his colleagues, their dinners and all that other crap. I'm living my life, your husband is your life."

Eiko didn't know how to respond to that. She was starting to realize that the girl standing in front of her was someone she didn't know at all and it scared her. What happened to the rational, predictable Michiru she knew? The one who despised Eiko's partying outfits, scolded Eiko for her actions and cared for the public image despite her distaste towards Hideo?

"What is your life, exactly, Michiru?" Eiko finally whispered.

"Currently my life revolves around all the fun that I have missed since I had to become an adult when father passed away." There was no hesitation whatsoever in Michiru's words.

"I thought your life revolved around your music." Eiko eyed her wearily. "When was the last time you played?"

Michiru dropped the boot she was still holding to the floor where it landed with a dull thump. "Since when do you care, mother? My music is what I do when I feel like doing it, it's never been one of your concerns, nor should it become now. I believe you're late for a dinner. Please send my regrets to Hideo."

Eiko watched as the door to the bathroom closed behind her daughter, effectively ending the conversation. She stifled a sigh before opening the hallway door and walking downstairs.

**x x x  
**

Michiru unbuttoned her coat as she entered the dark abandoned building. It was too early for people to arrive, so she quietly made her way through, trying to ignore the goose bumps that covered her entire body. After walking through the empty first floor, she was starting to wonder if the friend that she called gave her the right address. The whole block seemed to be abandoned and the fact that she was alone and had no idea how to defend herself finally presented itself to her brain. She shivered at the thought and ducked behind the nearest wall as she heard approaching footsteps. To her relief she saw a familiar spiked red head and released the breath she was holding. With a suggestive smile she stepped out of the cover of the wall.

"Fuck, woman!" Hiro squealed as he almost jumped out of his skin. He held his hand to his racing heart and tried to catch his breath. "What the fuck, Michiru?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she whispered back, regretting that their evening started on a rather negative note.

"What the hell are you doin' here so early?" Hiro straightened out.

"I was hoping to catch you before everyone else got here." Michiru slowly moved closer, making Hiro take a step back.

"Why?" he whispered as tiny beads of sweat collected on his forehead.

"Well," Michiru let her coat fall off of her shoulders, her wrists preventing it from falling to the dirty floor, "I thought maybe we could have some fun together."

"Are you coming on to me?" Hiro made another squealing sound as his back hit the wall and Michiru's body lingered a few inches away.

"Maybe." Michiru brought her face dangerously close to Hiro's.

"Why?"

"I thought you of all people, Hiro, wouldn't ask that question and just take what's coming your way," Michiru mused in an almost seductive voice.

Hiro cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably. "See, usually that's true, it's just that…" He started shifting again.

"Just that what?" Michiru traced the outline of his jaw with her index finger.

"I don't touch Tenoh's girls," Hiro finally forced out.

Michiru chuckled. "I thought there was no such thing as 'Tenoh's girl,' she's just a player." Michiru's finger kept making its way around his face.

"Yeah, but I ain't touchin' you." Hiro shook his head from side to side to prove his point.

"That's okay, Hiro, I can do the touching," Michiru whispered in response, fully leaning into him.

"Whoring yourself around, are you mermaid?"

Michiru jumped aside and turned around at the husky voice behind her. Haruka was leaning against another wall, her hands crossed on top of her chest, watching the show. "Leave the kid alone, he doesn't sell info for sex."

Michiru's jaw dropped at the way Haruka just saw through her. She was trying to compose herself and find something to say, but her wit decided to take the night off. Hiro took a few steps away from Michiru, making sure to put some distance between them before he looked at Haruka.

"Sorry, I -"

"It's okay." Haruka smirked at his worried face. "She's not worth it. Go get everything in, the building is clear."

Hiro nodded before hurriedly making his way between the two women and disappearing in the darkness. Haruka let her eyes travel the length of the other woman's body. She was so different from when Haruka met her. She was dressed in skimpy clothes, her hair was down, heavy makeup covered her face. All of a sudden she became ordinary, just like the rest of the women who attended the races. She was no longer unreachable, which made it so much easier not to want her anymore. Haruka felt something akin to sadness at the realization - it was another waste of life. "Stop twirling your hair, it doesn't suit you."

Michiru let the hand that was playing with a strand of her hair down, her curls jumping slightly from the release. She felt like she only made things worse so far, she felt like she cornered herself and she couldn't find a way out. It was so frustrating, she needed something to take the frustration away… but she would have to wait.

"What is it that you wanted to get out of Hiro?" Haruka asked out of caution if nothing else. In the end, she did need to make sure that Michiru wasn't playing all of them.

"I want to know more about you," Michiru answered simply.

"Why?"

"Because I like you."

"And what would knowing something about me do about that? Even if you know everything there is about me, you won't get me. So why does it matter?"

Michiru shrugged. "It just does."

"Michiru, you're letting it grow into obsession. It's senseless, don't do it. No matter how much you know about me, it won't change a thing." Haruka took a deep breath before continuing. "I don't want you anymore, I don't even know if I like you now. We've never shared anything but sex and we won't even share that again. So stop thinking about me, stop trying to find out things about me, forget me. Better yet, forget everything about racing and partying, go back to your life, go back to your family, your music. You were much better when you cared about that than when you started to care about me." Haruka gave the tear-stricken face another glance before she made her way towards the truck with equipment.

Haruka felt like Michiru was spiraling down into something that couldn't end in anything but disaster, but she couldn't convince herself to do anything about it. Her brain kept telling her that it was none of her business. She warned both Eiko and Michiru of the possible consequences of Michiru's association with the club, but neither of them listened. Besides, Haruka knew that Michiru had a whole new circle of friends, one that even Haruka didn't frequent: the weekend crowd. Haruka always limited herself to partying with the people she knew at least somewhat, so she spent Friday nights doing all kinds of fun things, but she didn't extend her pleasure into Saturday or Sunday. Besides, people at the races had a common interest: the race itself, which was quite different from the interest of the weekend crowd: get drunk, get high, get lost in the world that isn't your life during the week, and repeat the same process. Haruka liked her life, so she had no need to hide from it.

Her heart, on the other hand, felt some compassion for the violinist. Her heart kept telling her that there was a time in her own life when one person could have made all the difference in the world, but no one ever did. Haruka had a chance to be that one person for Michiru at this exact moment in time, so her heart begged her to step in.

Her mind, on the other hand, reminded her that she had already saved a soul and she wasn't in the business of being someone's personal guardian angel. The last time her heart won over her mind, Haruka got a bone-skinny sick young boy out of a dumpster and nursed him back to life. She later learned that he was brutally abused by his mother's enumerate boyfriends and ran away, seeking refuge in the streets. Only Haruka knew perfectly well that the streets could be much worse than the abuse one suffered at home, especially when that someone wasn't equipped with the street smarts. Four years later the boy grew into a seemingly absent-minded nineteen-year-old, but he was smart when he could concentrate and, most importantly, he would die before he ever told anything he knew about Haruka or what Haruka did, at least intentionally that is. Haruka looked at that same boy setting up the lights and let her mind win.

"What?" Hiro felt uncomfortable at the intent stare of the dark blue eyes.

"Nothing." Haruka shook her head before she got in the back of the truck and helped him unload the rest of the equipment.

Michiru quietly sat in the corner of the large room, watching Hiro and Haruka work. The lights positioned around the large space came on first, followed by the speakers, screens, tables, control panels, police radios, laptops, and so on. A van pulled inside some time later and drinks and snacks were unloaded onto one of the empty tables, the van's driver took a seat behind the 'bar.' Michiru sighed in relief and made her way to the table, happy that she could finally have a conversation with someone and get a drink.

People started to arrive shortly after, bringing the building to life. It was another highway race, only this time it had six participants and Haruka was not one of them. Instead, Haruka was in charge of making sure that the first race since the official formation of the traffic safety commission went through smoothly. She checked the live feeds again - there was nothing unusual in the flow of traffic thus far. She checked her watch - they still had half an hour left before the race and the exit-blockers should be in place on time. Everything was going according to plan.

"Did you connect to the server?" Haruka turned to Hiro, who nodded in confirmation. "Okay… we can't mess this one up, there's too much riding on it." Haruka turned one of the radios on and pressed a button. "Fijiama?"

"_Tenoh,"_ came through some static.

"How's the feed?"

"_We're still grounded. We'll get in the air in another fifteen, that should be enough time to get there before the race starts."_

"Okay. Let me know when you're live, we can't disappoint our viewers."

"_Got it."_

Haruka set the radio back on the table and leaned on her palms, checking the statistics on one of the screens. Fijiama Nobu worked for the local news, which landed him and his crew (both in his day job and his weekend job) access to a helicopter. This particular race was going to be broadcasted online through a subscription-only website, where people from all over the world could place their bets on the racers. This wasn't different from any other race where the progress was tracked through the traffic cams; the view from the sky was simply better when cars raced at the speeds they would that night.

"_Airborne."_

Haruka grabbed the radio again. "I got you." She grabbed a smaller walkie talkie next. "Rin, what's your status?"

Haruka watched as a woman in tight white jeans and a red top turned to face the camera by the start line. _"Waitin' on you, boss."_

"Okay, put them in the formation." Haruka watched as six cars came out of the ramp and formed two lines, three cars in each. She switched to the live feed from the helicopter and watched as Rin walked to the front, holding two flags in one hand and the walkie in the other. "You may go when you're ready."

Rin put the radio behind her belt and raised the flags. Six cars came to motion as the checkered material touched the ground and Rin quickly made her way off the highway, soon reappearing again in her own car and following the racers in the mix of regular traffic. The distance between the racing dots and the other cars grew as the beasts gained their power.

The competition was fierce and everyone in the large space of the abandoned building seemed to follow the screens, forgetting about their previous conversations, ignoring the music, and only occasionally sipping on their drinks and expressing their reactions to what they saw. The Lamborghini finally pulled ahead midway through the race, separating itself with just enough distance to ignore everyone in its wake. There were only a few exits left before their destination.

"_Tenoh!" _Haruka's attention was caught by the nervous voice from the radio.

"What's up Fijiama?"

"_You need to call them off." _

"What do you mean?" Haruka stared at the screen where the race seemed to be going perfectly well.

"_Switch to the second cam on one of your screens."_

She did as she was told on one of the computers and her fingers dug into the radio. The exit towards which the racers were heading was barricaded by the police, along with the highway right in front of it. "Fuck." She came out of her stupor and pressed an emergency button that sent a signal similar to the fire alarm through the speakers. "Hiro," She found him staring at the police on the screen. "Contact the racers, tell them to cease."

Haruka watched as people filed out of the building, while others started to pack the equipment back into trucks and vans. Everyone seemed to still remember the protocol. That was good.

"Haruka," Hiro called in a small voice, his color seemed to have left him by the time Haruka looked up. "I can't get through to Sanu."

"What do you mean you can't get through to him?"

"His walkie is not working." Hiro swallowed hard. "And the others are behind him, they can't let him know…"

"Fuck!" Haruka looked at one of the two laptops that were still sitting in front of her. Sure enough, the Lamborghini was heading straight for the trap."Hiro, keep contact with Fijiama, let me know if cops move anywhere."

"Where are you going?" he yelled in her wake, but she didn't bother responding as she ran to the side exit and jumped in her car.

If she calculated right, she could still make it to the exit before the nearest one in time to stop him… given that there was nothing in her way. Haruka pulled out of the parking spot and drove in the opposite direction of the quickly dispersing cars. She has never driven this fast through the streets when she didn't actually participate in a race. She dodged everything and everyone that was in her way, some things by a very narrow margin. '_Daiki was right, I'm not going to die in my sleep and he will be the cause of my death,'_ she though to herself sadly.

She accelerated when she finally spotted the exit and let Enzo fly on to the ramp in the opposite direction of the traffic. Once on the highway she stopped, rubber burning, smoke filling the night air. A pair of headlights was fast approaching, but the driver didn't seem to mind her being in the way. She pressed her foot into the pedal and prayed to whatever god could hear her that she came out of this alive.

**x x x**

Michiru was confused by the sudden piercing sound that seemed to put everyone in motion. She understood that it was a signal to get out, she just didn't know why everyone had to disappear. She made her way to Hiro and found him staring at the screen. She saw five cars get off the exit, while one continued on. Michiru's eyes traveled to the other screen and her breath caught at the sight of the blinking lights. She was still trying to form a question when she saw a familiar shape pull on the highway in front of the speeding car and accelerate, heading for a collision.

"What is she doing?" Michiru screamed, her nails digging in the palms of her hands. "Hiro, what the hell is she doing?"

Hiro didn't so much as look at her, his intense stare on the screen wasn't even disturbed by sweat that trickled down his face, burning his eyes. "She's trying to make him avoid the trap."

"Why?"

"They go way back."

"Enough to risk her life for his freedom?" Michiru stared at the screen in shock.

"Wouldn't you risk your life for your cousin's freedom?" Hiro whispered as he watched the Lamborghini swerve into the emergency lane at the last moment and head into the exit ramp. The Enzo did a 180 and followed him off the speedway.

"What?" Michiru breathed out as the cars disappeared from view, and the meaning of Hiro's words finally reached her.

Hiro got up and closed both laptops, grabbed everything that was still on the table and made his way to the only remaining car. The truck he arrived in had long been gone, taken to safety by somebody else.

"Wait, they are cousins?" Michiru ran behind the red-haired man.

"I've no idea what you're talking 'bout," Hiro mumbled as he put the laptops in the trunk. He had a tendency to spill things he shouldn't accidentally, but he would never admit that he said them later on. Especially when it came to Haruka.

"Hiro, I heard you say it."

Hiro looked at her quickly before opening the driver's door. "No, you were drunk and you imagined hearing me say it, I've never said anythin' of the sort." He got in and closed the door.

'_But… wait, is he going to leave me here alone?'_ She ran around the car to his side, putting both of her hands on the window. "Hiro!"

He lowered it just a notch after some hesitation.

"Alright, I've imagined things, you've never said a word to me, but please, don't leave me here alone."

Hiro looked at Michiru's pleading face and figured that as much as he wanted to just get away from her, it was probably a bad idea to leave a witness for when the police made its way through. "Fine." He unlocked the passenger door and waited for her to get in before making his quick escape.

**x x x**

Haruka was still catching her breath when she pulled in an empty parking lot behind the Lamborghini. She got out of the car and walked around the front, meeting the dark-haired driver by his door. She didn't even say a word before his face was met by her right jab.

"What the fuck, Tenoh?" Daiki rubbed his jaw that seemed to be favored by the blonde in the past month as he stared at her with mixed feelings.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? You don't check your walkie before going into a race? You almost drove into a trap set by your fellow policemen."

Daiki was going to use one of his retorts when he saw tears collected in the corners of her eyes. He removed the hand from his jaw and pulled her in a tight embrace. "Don't worry, kiddo, you did good. I'm okay, you're okay, we're both alive and free."

Haruka blinked furiously, trying to get rid of the water that blurred her vision. She finally moved her right hand and put it on the muscular back, accepting the hug. Daiki let her go and ruffled her blonde hair, smiling. "An eye for an eye. You've paid your debt, kid."

"I didn't just go there because I owed you my life, I went there because you're the only family I've ever had!" Haruka retorted.

"I know." Daiki grew serious. "And I appreciate it."

Haruka nodded. "You need to dump your car."

"You've got a cleaning kit?"

She walked to the passenger side and pulled a kit from underneath the seat. Haruka watched as he thoroughly wiped the surfaces of the car, inside and out. "Wouldn't it be easier to burn it?" she finally asked as he meticulously cleaned the door handle.

Daiki looked at her with a half-smile. "Burn such a beauty? How can you even say that?"

"It's not a Ferrari." Haruka shrugged.

Daiki laughed as he continued on with his task. "Besides, this way it will come right back to me."

"I'm sure there are other, more discrete cars you can borrow from evidence."

"I can and I will, but she'll always be my favorite." Daiki gave the car a last sorrowful glance as he removed the gloves and put them in a bag, followed by other materials he just used.

"Where are we going?"

"Sayuri's house, I feel like I need some nursing." Daiki smirked as he got in the passenger seat of the Enzo.

Haruka gave him a disapproving glance. "You and Abe -"

"You don't listen to my advice on your love life, I don't listen to yours. Me and Sayuri know what we are doing and our arrangement has been working for years, so please spare me the lecture."

Haruka growled and turned on the car, making her way out of the parking lot occupied by a single red super car, and towards the lights of a busy city.


	10. A Shoulder To Lean On

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**A Shoulder To Lean On**

Sanu Daiki was a young, ambitious and very excited policeman when he started patrolling the streets. As the years went by he grew older, his ambition grew proportionately to his age, while his excitement died down together with his naive outlook on life. When he chose his career path, it was because of his own family dynamics. He thought he could do something good in the world, find justice. It took him just a few years to realize how disgusting the world he lived in really was, and all desire to save it was gone. He had seen victims of the world in all forms and shapes: victims of abuse, rape, murder… those who chose the path that led them to their demise, but mostly those who were caught in bad circumstances, happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and had been damaged forever. The realization that one man could not change the world hit him fast and hard. Ironically, the first time he broke the law, completely disregarding the consequences to his actions and covering his tracks, he didn't do so out of corruption. The first time he broke the law, he did so as a man with leftovers of a soul of a fighter for justice. It was truly his first and last righteous act.

Daiki responded to a call about a shooting that occurred in a well-established gang territory, one where everybody knew who the gang members were and what they did, but were too afraid to talk. When he got to the scene, he found all gang members to be gone, all doors to be shut, and only felt people looking out of their windows through the tiny slits in the curtains. There, in the middle of the street, in the dirt, lay a young boy who couldn't have been more than ten. He was dressed in ripped jeans and a faded, stained black t-shirt. Daiki had seen enough to know that that child had been living on the streets and, like so many others, happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Daiki inspected the young victim and found him to be still alive, albeit unconscious and bleeding profusely from the bullet hole in his back. He picked up the child and took him to the hospital, not worried about the crime scene, knowing perfectly well that it didn't matter; they would never find the person responsible for shooting a child in the back. Daiki drove to the emergency room and was surprised to find the child conscious when they got there. He opened the back door, but the child backed into the corner on the other side of the car and wrapped his arms around his knees in a defensive posture. He didn't make a sound, nothing to show the excruciating pain Daiki was sure the child was in. The only evidence of any feelings the young policeman saw was in the burning blue eyes, full of agony and fear. Daiki tried to soothe that fear in order to help with the pain. When he finally got closer to the child, the child started pleading to let him go. His non-stop babble had to do with orphanages, adoptions and preferring the life on the street.

Daiki knew that no matter how bad the system was, only someone who had been hurt by that system on numerous occasions would prefer to live on the streets, especially if they knew the streets like that child seemed to. Daiki also knew that he couldn't let the boy go because the bullet didn't come out and the child needed surgery. So he let his heart feel for all those victims he had seen in his short career and help the one child that was sitting in the corner of his cruiser. He took him inside the emergency room, kicking and screaming until the pain took over the small body and the child lost consciousness.

Convincing the doctors to give the report of that particular shooting to Daiki didn't prove to be hard, since he was a policeman and did bring the child in. It was the first report Daiki forgot to file in his career. He came back to the hospital after his shift was over and was surprised to find out that the young _girl_ he saved was recovering from the surgery. Since she had no name, no insurance, and no money, her stay at the hospital was so short that she was barely awake by the time Daiki took her out to the car. Not able to think of anything better, Daiki brought the child to his small apartment.

It didn't take long for the young girl to feel unusually comfortable in a soft bed and wake up, fully aware of her unfamiliar surroundings and the presence of a large male body in the room. Her first reaction was similar to that in the cruiser: she got herself as far in the corner as she could, the difference being that this time she pulled a blanket as much over her half-naked bandaged body as she could. Daiki had a very tiring battle with her, trying to make her lay back down and not tear the stitches in her back apart, but the child was too terrified to listen. She completely got Daiki by surprise when she suddenly jumped up, threw the blanket to the floor and stared at what she was wearing. "Where are my clothes?"

It was the first time Daiki heard her voice in its full force, not just a pleading whisper, not a scared mumble, but a clear, demanding, slightly husky voice. "They were all dirty, I'll get you new ones."

She shook her head from side to side uncontrollably, making her clean blonde hair fall in her face, covering her tear-filled eyes. "I need _my_ clothes," she said evenly before yelling it out again: "I NEED MY CLOTHES!"

Daiki winced from the pain in her shouting voice, walked to his garbage can and pulled out the hospital bag that contained her dirty clothing. He handed it to her, then watched her rip it out of his hands and go straight for her jean pocket. She took out a piece of paper and threw the bag back at him. "You can have them now."

He watched her stare at the piece of paper before she gingerly folded it together and tucked it in the side of her bandages, grimacing from the pain that the action must have caused. Daiki shook his head and discarded the clothing once again. "What's your name?" Silence. He sighed. "Look, kid, I understand that you're scared, I would be too if I were you, but I won't harm you, I'm a policeman."

"So?" she finally replied quietly.

Daiki closed his eyes, figuring out that he was dealing with someone who probably had seen so much that she could teach him life, not the other way around, despite her still being a child and him being an adult. "Look, I'm not going to do anything bad to you, you look like you've suffered enough. I want you to get better without having an infection or ripping your stitches apart." He looked at her skinny arms that were hugging the blanket. "You could use some food too. Then, when you're healthy again, you can figure out what you want to do, where you want to go."

"Why?"

He couldn't answer that himself. It wasn't really in character to be the good samaritan, he just did what he did. He just wanted to help her, even though he didn't really know how to; it wasn't like he was intending to adopt a child. Heck, he wasn't even intending to let her live with him, he just wanted to help and he wanted to take it one step at a time. "I don't know why, just consider this an early Christmas present."

"People don't give presents without expecting something in return."

"How old are you?" He guessed her to be around ten, but he had no idea if that was even close.

She looked at him, considering what harm could come from his knowing her age and reasoned that there was none. "Thirteen."

Daiki winced again. She definitely didn't look thirteen. "What's your name?"

She seemed to disappear into her own world for a while, and he just patiently waited for an answer.

"I've had so many names, I don't know who I am," she finally whispered, bringing her dark blue eyes up to his black ones. Every time she was adopted she got a new name, every time she ran away and got caught she got a new one. She could name at least a dozen names at that point and they all meant nothing to her.

"What would you like me to call you?" Daiki asked carefully.

She didn't respond to that. He waited for a while thinking that she may have gone to her own world again, until he realized that she was there, just watching him, and she wasn't going to talk to him again. "Okay, kid, we've got a long and bumpy road ahead of us."

**x x x  
**

When he said 'long and bumpy,' Daiki couldn't have imagined even half of it. The teenager who he thought to be a child was the most stubborn person he had ever come across in his life. So much so that soon any attempt at trying to get anything out of her would turn in a long string of curses, followed by a slammed door, and one of them leaving. Her wound healed and one day he came to an empty apartment, expecting to never see her again. She did come back, however, a few days later. He let her in, fed her in silence and let her sleep on the couch. It became quite customary since then for her to appear out of thin air, stay until he started to ask questions and then disappear. It drove Daiki nuts, but he wanted to find out who the hell the girl was and how she got to be the way she was, so he tolerated her coming and going.

A couple of months into this roller coaster he came home to find her curled up in a chair, sleeping with a book in her lap. Daiki just stood there trying to figure out what surprised him more: that she was there or that she was holding a book. He always assumed that she hadn't gone to school because of the history of her rocky adoptions that he learned of a little. He wondered how she learned to read. He decided not to touch the little harpy, lest she woke up with her claws out, and went to make some warm food instead. He heard her shuffling her feet in the hallway before she appeared in the kitchen, blinking at the lights.

"Hi."

"Hi," he greeted and turned back to the stove.

She took a seat and watched him move around the kitchen in an almost domestic scene. He finally set the food in front of her and took a seat. "You read?" He watched as she stopped chewing and put her chopsticks down.

"I do."

"Did you go to school?"

"No."

"Eat, it's not like I'm gonna take away your food if you don't answer," he said with a note of irritation that made its way into his voice. The girl eyed him wryly before continuing on with her meal.

"Why did you learn to read?" he asked after a little while.

She stopped chewing again, now for a different reason. "Most people would want to know how, not why."

"I'm not most people."

"No shit."

"Shit. So, why?"

She took another mouthful, thinking whether she was ready to share her secret with the man or not. In the end, he was a cop and could help her find them. "My parents left me at a hospital after I was born." She set the chopsticks down permanently and leaned into the back of her chair. "They gave me a name and put it on the back of the photograph that they left with me. It's the only possession I've had and I had to learn to read in order to know what my name is."

"What's your name?"

"Tenoh Haruka," she finally said, her voice as even and clear as it's ever been.

Which was a good thing because Daiki would have asked her to repeat that name otherwise. As it was, he just felt the wheels in his head turning and his eyes widening. "Do you still have that photograph?"

She eyed him cautiously, not understanding where his sudden expression came from. Then she reached in her pocket and pulled out a photograph folded in half. She opened it gingerly and passed it on to him. Daiki looked down at the faded, wrinkled photo and unconsciously held his breath. A tall dark haired man with black eyes smiled from the photo, holding a shorter blonde, green-eyed woman by her waist. They looked young and happy, not a care in their faces. Daiki knew exactly when that picture was taken, it was right before everything had gone to hell.

"Can you help me find them?" she asked carefully.

He came out of his reverie at the sound of her soft voice. A million things went through his head, starting with how he could tell this child yet another horror story of life, and finishing with the irony of how fate brought the two of them together. He considered lying to her, telling her that her parents died in a car accident, but he knew that if she ever found out, she would not forgive him because she would never trust him again. "I can't kiddo."

"But you're a cop, you must have a way," she pleaded.

He shook his head. "It's not that. I don't need to be a cop to know who they are. They're dead, kid. They've been dead your whole life."

It has been one dream that Haruka always had: find her family. No matter the reason why they left her, no matter the circumstances, she had always wanted to find them. She studied in the streets, searched through the dumpsters for books, tried to learn to read, to learn about other things. When she could find presentable clothes, she would go to the library and read more. She had never gone to school because she had never been with the same family for long enough to do so. They all turned away from a quiet, terrified child who they thought they could change when they first saw her. She wasn't about to change in one night or in one month, but most people's patience ran out before they had any effect on her. Until Daiki. His patience ran out the second day he had her in his apartment, but, unlike those other people, he didn't hide it. Instead, he made it obvious to her, he would blow up in her face and then leave, and then everything would be okay again. He never made her leave, unless she walked out on her own. He was different, she still didn't know why he chose to be different with her, but he was.

Right now, however, he just took away her only reason in life, her only hope. She felt tears streaming freely down her cheeks, for the first time in as long as she could remember. She learned to contain her feelings otherwise, but she was too relaxed in his presence and too crushed by the knowledge that she had been living for a dream that was never meant to happen. "How?" she asked evenly, despite her tears. "How did they die?"

Daiki rubbed his face with his hands before leaning into the back of his chair and looking at her gray eyes. "Have you ever come across Shakespeare in your quest of knowledge?"

She nodded slowly.

"Have you read Romeo and Juliet?"

"Some." It wasn't her particular area of interest.

Daiki nodded. "Your father was my mother's brother." He saw her eyes widen until it looked like they were going to pop out. "They came from a middle-class, small town, traditional family. My mother married my father according to all appropriate customs and her younger brother was supposed to wed someone from the same town, in the same way. Only your father met someone else and fell in love. Your mother was a Swiss tourist who had been visiting Japan when your father met her. In the little time that they had here, he felt so strongly about her that he took the money that was meant for his wedding and followed her back to Europe. They came back years later, happily married. The problem was that his parents died in those years and my parents have always blamed him for their death. I was just a little over your age when they came back. I've heard all the fights, all the accusations that my father threw at yours. My parents considered him a black sheep of the family, for being disrespectful to the parents, for marrying someone outside of their religion, outside of their culture; it was ugly. None of them seemed to care that your mother was pregnant, neither of them noticed when she came back without her pregnant belly one day, the blame game continued. It got so bad that you father buckled under the pressure and shot himself. Your mother, I assume, couldn't live without both her child and her husband, so she followed suit when she found him. So, that's your fucked up real life Shakespearean story, kid."

He watched her cry in silent shock until she grabbed the picture from the table, got up and left. Daiki knew that she needed time to process everything he just said, hell he himself need time, so he let her go, like he always had.

**x x x**

What Daiki didn't know when Haruka walked out on him that night was that she walked out on him permanently. He had not seen her for over a year and accepted that he would never see his little cousin again, until she showed up at his precinct, her clothes torn, her body no longer that of a boy, and determination in her cold gray eyes. They looked at each other for a long time, Daiki standing by his car, Haruka standing in the shadows of a tree, until she walked up to the passenger seat and he let her in. What prompted her to come back was not the love towards the only family member she had ever known, of course, it was the realization that she was becoming a woman and that certain attributes of her developing body were favored by the scum of the streets, predominantly of the male population. After having the closest experience Haruka ever had to losing her virginity by force, she figured that there were better things she could do with herself in life and she went straight to the precinct, hoping that Daiki was still there. It took many hours of sitting under the tree to finally see him, but it was worth it.

Both of them had changed in the year they spent apart, but the change that occurred was mutual. They both became harsher, less fearful, more determined. They first had to get through the awkward stage of being related, but not having any actual relationship, other than the customary banter relatives share in every family. Except that both Daiki and Haruka had taken that to a whole new universe with their sharp, dirty tongues and open display of emotion that would die down as soon as it flickered, only to be replaced by the feeling of companionship neither has had in their life to that point. Once they got used to each other, they started thinking of ways to get out of the small apartment they shared and into something bigger. Daiki had always liked fast cars and learned that that particular passion seemed to run in the family. He taught Haruka to drive, which she picked up with an ease, and soon was teaching him the tricks she came up with. Their passion grew into something more, so in another year the Wing of Night came to life with the two original wings that flew the cousins through the Tokyo nights.

What they did evolved and developed fast, along with the blonde who seemed to be good at anything she applied herself to, so long as her patience didn't run out. Having experience of teaching herself her whole life, Haruka never hesitated to pick up something new and learn it, and then use it to her advantage and the advantage of the carefully selected members of the gang. So, the activity evolved from simple drag races, to a drag racing club, to hosting the races and the after parties, to taking bets on the races, to hosting races for specific gambling broadcast over the communication networks throughout the world. The girl who came up with most of the ideas evolved from an awkward teenager to a beautiful woman, who most people took for a man when they met her, not only because of her dress habits, but also because of her ruthless logic, her absence of fear, and her ability to take control.

That woman was respected and sometimes feared and virtually no one, except Daiki, knew that the little girl that hid in the corner and pulled her blanket over her tiny frame never left the premises. She just hid into a deeper corner of Haruka's soul, right next to all her softer feelings that she never got a chance to share with someone in her life.

**x x x  
**

It was the day after the ceased race and Haruka was going over the list of their resources to make sure that a surprise of this sort never happened again. She was sitting on a pillow on the concrete floor of her house, her laptop in her lap, watching the sun set over the bay. It was peaceful; despite the adrenalin rush of the night before she was at peace. She had to figure out what they could do to get out of their current problem, but she always had in the past, so she didn't worry about that. She sighed in content as the orange ball disappeared from the view and returned her eyes to the illuminated keyboard.

The vibration of her phone against the floor brought her out of what she was doing some hours later. She looked at the caller ID and frowned. "Have you lost your god damn mind?" was her annoyed greeting to the caller.

"_See, ordinarily I wouldn't call your line directly, but this is sort of an emergency,"_ Daiki replied sarcastically.

"You forgot condoms? Cuz I'm not getting those for you." Haruka put the computer on the floor as she got up to her feet. She heard him chuckle.

"_I'd never invite you in a room with me and another woman, dyke." _

"Afraid of a little competition?" She half-smiled.

"_Never."_ His tone grew serious again. _"See, a little bird told me that there was something I may want to see, so I'm looking at it right now and it makes me think you might want to come and join the show."_

"Are you high?"

"_Oh, I'm not, but someone you may want to take away from here is."_

"Daiki, you know I don't give a shit about picking anyone up from anywhere. Never have, never will."

"_I think you want to make an exception to that rule."_

"Because?" Haruka asked, annoyed. He called her directly, which was against their unwritten rule, to tell her that she wanted to pick someone up? _'He really is out of his god damn mind.'_

"_Because I'm watching a certain woman with long sea-green hair snorting white powder up her little pretty nose and, judging by her awkward actions, I'd say she's not used to it and will pass out shortly. You know what happens to pretty little things like her when they pass out on a couch in the middle of a dirty club, don't you?"_

"Fuck me," Haruka groaned, pulling at her hair with her free hand.

"_Now you're just being disgusting, cous," _Daiki replied in mirth.

"I'm not in a fucking joking mood, you moron. What's the address?" She didn't need the address, she knew the name of the club. "I'll be there. Can you -"

"_Yes, I'll hover, scaring the vultures away."_

"Thanks." She pocketed the phone, closed the computer shut and walked to her car, throwing a long string of curses along her way.

**x x x  
**

Haruka walked through the small club filled with smoke to an area that was separated by some soiled with god only knew what curtains. Sure enough, Michiru was passed out on one of the couches, a straw lay on top of the otherwise empty table. Daiki stood to the side in a group of people; he didn't bother to separate from them as he watched Haruka pick up the girl and carry her out of the club. He sighed internally, wondering when his little harpy would admit to herself that she cared for the smaller woman.

Haruka carried Michiru out to the car, put her in the seat and strapped her in, just like she had done on their first date. She got behind the wheel and stared at the street unseeingly. So many things had changed since that first date. The summer was long gone, and so was the innocent violinist she met. Instead of a girl who passed out after two mixed drinks, she now had a girl who passed out after snorting coke. How had they gotten there? More importantly, why did Haruka find herself in the same car with the unconscious woman again? Well, at least this time Haruka knew where to take her. She started the engine and drove to the ugly mansion Michiru called home.

Michiru stirred when the car was already at her front door, her clouded blue eyes took in the sight and widened in fear. Her head snapped towards the driver as she picked up her feet and hugged her knees to her chest. "I can't go in there, not like this." She hid her face in her knees and started shivering.

"Sure you can. You did this to yourself, besides, I'm sure you already know how to sneak in." Haruka's nails dug into her thigh as ocean blue eyes turned to her, full of tears, regret and fear.

"Please, don't make me go there like this, they're still awake… please."

It was something in Michiru's posture, something in her eyes that reminded Haruka of herself. Of the time she was sitting in the back of a police car, begging the police officer not to take her to the hospital. She remembered him carrying her there nonetheless, kicking and screaming, remembered the feeling of utter helplessness. The memory made her do what she had never done before and what she would regret later: it made her take Michiru home with her.

Michiru was still forming a human ball on the passenger seat when the Enzo pulled into a residential street. She had no idea where Haruka was taking her, she assumed it was another hotel, and was surprised to see the car slow down as it approached a single-story house. The car entered the garage and was momentarily enveloped in complete darkness. Michiru wanted to untangle herself, wanted to get out of the confines of the car, to see where she was, but she couldn't move. So she just let Haruka remove her seatbelt, pick her up and carry her out of the garage. To her surprise, she soon found Haruka crossing the length of the house and walking down a set of stairs to a lower level. She then carried Michiru into one of the rooms of the lower level and laid her down on a wide, low bed.

Haruka watched as Michiru immediately curled in fetal position and walked to the set of chest drawers. She pulled out an oversized t-shirt and threw it next to Michiru. "Change, your sorry excuse for a dress is full of god only knows what."

Michiru grabbed the shirt with her hand and hugged it to herself as the blonde walked out of the room. Michiru listened to the silent steps on the stairs as Haruka walked to the kitchen. She gathered whatever strength she had left and took all her clothes off, putting the soft large shirt over her shaking frame. She felt freezing all of a sudden, so she climbed under the soft fluffy blanket and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Haruka walked back in a couple of minutes later. She set the glass of water on the night stand next to the pillow occupied by a curly mess of sea-green hair. She picked up the clothes from the floor and threw them in a bag she brought with her - she doubted that the cigarette smell could be taken out with anything. After successfully disposing of the bag, she returned to her bedroom and leaned against the wall, watching the sleeping form. She was sure that if she removed the blanket, she would find Michiru curled in a ball, it was something she had learned from her own experience: the instinct of self-preservation would always put her body parts as close to her torso as possible. Michiru was no different.

This was the first time in her life when Haruka had someone in her bed. Her real bed, the one she slept in every night. She contemplated sleeping somewhere else, but her house wasn't designed for guests, nor was it ever meant to have any. Other than sleeping in a wooden chair or on the concrete floor, Haruka's only option was the bed. Concrete floor didn't seem very inviting and her chairs, as much as she loved them, were by no means comfortable to sleep in. So Haruka sighed, took her clothes off and climbed to the other side of the wide bed, away from the peacefully sleeping woman. Haruka hadn't lied when she told Michiru that she couldn't sleep in an unfamiliar bed, but falling asleep in her own, even with someone else in it, did not prove to be a problem.


	11. The Rock Bottom

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**The Rock Bottom**

Haruka dug her nails deep into the mattress as velvet-like tongue made circling motions around the hardness of her bud. Waves of desire washed over her in hot waves. She sharply took in the air as the tongue was replaced by lips, sucking on the sensitive, yet hard flesh. A finger made its way inside her sex as the ministration continued, soon followed by another one. She was forgetting to breathe, her body on the edge of a climax, full of unbearable desire, when she finally opened her midnight blue eyes.

Haruka stared at the ceiling, shaken up by the vivid dream, her body as rigid as it was in her sleep. She let out a groan and felt the tongue return to the bud, the fingers slide in and out… only this time she was sure she wasn't sleeping. She sat abruptly and pulled the covers to the side, finding a sea-green haired head between her legs. "Wh… What the fuck are you doing?"

"You didn't seem to mind until a few seconds ago," came a confident whisper.

"I was asleep a second ago."

"I've always found it romantic to be awakened by someone making love to you," Michiru replied with a small smile on her face.

Haruka stared at Michiru, trying to calm her raging hormones and her still desire-filled body. "Are you still high?"

"I don't need to be high when I'm with you, Haruka," Michiru replied absolutely seriously.

"You're still under the influence and you should go to sleep, otherwise I will take you home."

Michiru backed away until she was sitting on her knees, staring at the blonde and chewing on her lower lip… that tasted like Haruka. "I'm not high, so you're not taking advantage of me, it's more like I'm taking advantage of you."

'_You can say that again,' _Haruka chuckled internally. "You think I would care if I took advantage of someone? Do I look like I would care?"

"Yeah, you do," Michiru nodded.

"Really?" Haruka didn't have to act surprised, she was.

Michiru nodded again. "If you didn't care, you'd just make me keep going, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Did it ever occur to you that we're not doing anything because I don't want you?"

"No, it didn't because that didn't seem to be a problem until you made it one!"

"Michiru," Haruka threw the sheets to the side and got off the bed, disregarding the fact that she was completely naked - there was nothing there Michiru had not seen before. "We have had this discussion over and over." She paced the length of the room, watching the darkness outside and avoiding looking at the girl in her bed. "We're done, there is nothing between us and there will never be."

"Yet, I'm in your bed," Michiru whispered and regretted her words as soon as Haruka's cold gray eyes fell on her.

"I already regret that, don't make me kick you out the door in the middle of the night."

"I'm sorry." Michiru picked up the sheets and climbed underneath, making her way back to where she was sleeping before.

Haruka turned back to the window, hands on her hips, and watched the dark sky where the clouds quickly passed, periodically allowing a glimpse of the full moon. The thoughts passing through her head were just like those clouds, fast and dark.

Michiru silently watched the figure from underneath the blanket, savoring the sight. The body that was periodically illuminated by the moon was perfect: it was tall, lean, but with defied muscle, and oh so feminine. Michiru wanted nothing more at that moment than to touch the statuesque blonde, she was so close… yet Michiru knew how far away she really was.

"Why did you do it?"

Michiru blinked at the question that came from Haruka, who still faced the window. "Why did I do what?"

"Please don't pretend to be stupid, I know you're not." Haruka's eyes were still set on the moon. "Why did you start doing drugs?"

Michiru sighed. For someone who claimed not to care about anyone but herself, Haruka sure did ask a lot of questions that had nothing to do with her, at least, not directly. "It's a new experience."

"Just because there are things in life you haven't done, doesn't mean you have to do them all. Some things are meant to never be experienced."

"Well, there's no harm in trying something once, is there?"

"You've done it more than once."

"What?" Michiru removed the blanket from her head, but didn't move otherwise.

Haruka turned to face her. "This wasn't the first time you did cocaine."

"How would you know that?"

Haruka narrowed her eyes, losing whatever little patience she had left. "I know that because it's been three hours since you passed out and your mind is completely sober. You've gotten over the effect as fast as anyone who's used to it would."

"First you accuse me of still being intoxicated, then you accuse me of being sober. I think you have a very faulty logic."

Haruka threw her head backwards and stared at the ceiling. "Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about."

"Huh?" Michiru was blushing slightly from the thoughts that were running through her mind as she kept watching the naked blonde.

"Nothing," Haruka sighed, straightening. She really did like the woman's ability to think and she knew that it wasn't the same when Michiru was under the influence of… pretty much anything. The woman in bed was talking like the woman Haruka met, not like the one she had been seeing at the races. She was lying to her face and using sound logic to do pulled out a tanktop from one of the drawers and put it on, followed by a set of wide yoga pants. She threw another glance at the bed before opening the door. "Sleep. I'll take you home in the morning."

She shut the door and walked to the treadmill, grabbed the sneakers she always kept in the room and mentally swore at forgetting to grab the socks. Haruka turned the machine on and started running, trying to make her thoughts go away, trying to force all of her concerns out. Unfortunately, she knew that no matter how fast or how long she ran, she would not reach her goal.

**x x x**

"_He.. Hello?" _A sleep-ridden voice answered the phone.

"There's a Starbucks five minutes outside of your house, meet me there in ten."

"_Haruka?"_ came after a long pause.

"Yes."

"_Haruka, it's five in the morning."_

"They sell coffee at Starbucks, you'll be fine."

"_Why?"_

"I'm giving you one chance to help your daughter and you have ten minutes to get it before I change my mind."

"_I'll be there."_

**x x x**

Haruka sipped on her espresso as the door opened and a blonde woman who looked like Eiko's shadow walked in, heading directly for the table the racer occupied.

"See, now I can tell your age," Haruka said evenly instead of a greeting.

"My eyes are still closed, Haruka, I'm surprised I was able to drive here. It' five o'clock! Why are you up at five o'clock?" Eiko slumped into the chair.

Haruka set her cup down and moved it towards the older woman. Eiko needed it much more than Haruka did. "My bed was a bit crowded, so I couldn't keep on sleeping and I can only work out that long… I get tired of it after a couple of hours."

"Huh?"

Haruka's mouth curled at the corner - Eiko sounded like her daughter. "It really doesn't matter. What does matter is that you need to get your kid out of her new habits."

"What are you talking about?" Eiko's sleepiness started to dissolve fast.

"She's doing drugs, Eiko."

Eiko choked on the hot bitter liquid in her mouth. "She's _what_?"

"You heard me. She's not my responsibility, she's yours. So, this was the first and last time I picked her up at a club after she passed out. You got her into this mess, you get her out." Haruka got up, she did her job of letting Eiko know, her consciousness could take a break for another lifetime. "I will bring her home when she wakes up."

Eiko watched as the blonde walked to the door, but turned before leaving. "And Eiko, I don't ever want to hear from you or Michiru again."

Eiko jumped slightly as the bell rang above the door at Haruka's departure. She closed her eyes, fighting the stinging sensation, the small cup shook in her hand. What had she done?

**x x x**

Michiru opened her eyes as the first rays of light hit the bed through the large window. The view in front of her was breathtaking and she wished she could wake up to it every morning, but she knew that that was asking too much. So she stayed still, enjoying that moment, taking it all in. The bedroom was painted in a light yellow color which grew warmer as the sun hit it. The furniture was made of a dark wood and was rather sparse, but Michiru knew for a fact that it was comfortable. There were three doors that led out of the room, the violinist correctly assumed that they led to the closet, the bathroom and the hallway. Michiru sighed and dug herself deeper into the soft sheets.

"You can't stay here forever just by pretending to be asleep."

The sea-green head popped back up and turned towards the husky voice. "Why are you so mean to me?"

Haruka snorted. "Oh, I dunno, maybe it has something to do with me not being a nice person or you not listening to what I keep saying and annoying the daylights out of me?"

Michiru buried her face in the pillow and growled.

"Did you say something?" Haruka raised an eyebrow at the muffled speech she could not understand.

Michiru raised her head, threw the sheets away and got off the bed. "I said that you're the most annoying person I have ever met in my life. Most hard-headed, thick-sculled, annoying person I have ever come across."

"Good thing you don't have to stay around me then." Haruka mused.

'_I still want you though…'_ Michiru breathed in and out in silence. "Where are my clothes?"

"In the garbage can." Haruka made her way to the closet and pulled out a black polo dress. "Here, put this on."

Michiru eyed the blonde skeptically. "You have dresses in the closet?"

Haruka turned to her. "I am a woman."

"One that dresses like a man!" Michiru pointed out, nodding her head at Haruka's jeans and dress shirt.

"No, this is unisex clothing, not mens clothing… and I wear other things around the house, I have no problems with my own body, thank you very much."

"Neither do I," Michiru thought out loud as she remembered the blonde wearing tank top and yoga pants.

Haruka looked up at the violinist, caught up in her own moment. "It doesn't matter. Put it on and I'll take you home."

"What, not even a cup of coffee? Where are your manners?"

"This isn't a bed and breakfast, Michiru," Haruka snapped back. _  
_

"I was just making a joke." Michiru sighed as she pulled the dress over her head, ignoring the blonde's presence.

**x x x  
**

Eiko watched as the bullet-grey car pulled to the front door from an upstairs window. She saw her daughter's hesitation before she got out, saw her sad look as the car sped away and frowned. Eiko had already had a conversation with Jun about letting Eiko know Michiru's whereabouts and about watching her. She had plans on what she would try to do to distract Michiru from her new friends and hobbies, but she knew there was absolutely nothing she could do about Michiru's crush.

"Mother?" Michiru stared at the woman by the window from the door of her bedroom.

"Morning sweetie." Eiko smiled, her hands wrapped around her body.

"What are you doing here?" Michiru closed the door and walked to her own bed, throwing her purse on top of the covers.

"There is a new exhibition in town, I thought we could spend the day together."

Michiru narrowed her eyes. "We haven't spent a day together in months, why the sudden interest?"

"Precisely because of that - we haven't had a chance to hang out. Besides, I'm sure you'll love it." Eiko didn't skip a beat.

"I'm not sure about that. Let's do it some other time, I'm -"

"What? Busy? Tired?" Eiko interrupted her. "It's not going to work on me, I'm your mother. So, please, take a shower, let's have some breakfast and let's enjoy our day, like we used to."

Michiru looked at her tired-looking mother for a long moment before slowly nodding in agreement.

**x x x  
**

Haruka was staring at the undercarriage of a car, trying to figure out why she still did this when she had Hiro, who actually got paid to fix cars. She knew that she was doing it because it was a front and she knew that at that exact moment in time they were swamped and Hiro did a lot more work than she did, she just needed something to complain to herself about as she dirtied her hands, wishing she could be sitting next to a computer screen, coming up with a new venture. She turned her head as she smelled something closely resembling cigarette smoke and was met with a pair of high heels attached to red soles of shoes that did not belong in her garage. Neither did cigarettes.

'_Thank you for bringing me someone I can yell at.'_ She looked above herself as she pushed the little cart from underneath the car.

The view that met her still horizontal body was quite appealing, yet nothing she had not seen before. Long legs came out of the expensive shoes and went underneath a knit dress, not hiding black laced underwear from the position Haruka was in. The owner of said underwear and dress was looking down at her, a cigarette held firmly between two fingers, an absence of any expression on her face.

"See, I had the actual naiveté," Haruka pushed herself up, getting to her fee,. "To believe that when I said that I want to never," she grabbed the cigarette out of the slim fingers and threw it to the ground, stomping it with her foot, "ever see you again, I would actually get what I wanted, especially after having the pleasure of not seeing you for a month."

"Didn't take you to be that naive," Michiru replied.

"What the fuck are you doing here and how did you find me?" Haruka's voice was dangerously low as she stared at the clouded ocean-blue eyes.

"I've got a lot of friends," Michiru answered simply. "Someone mentioned you have a shop. So this is what you do, huh?" She turned around, reaching in her purse for another cigarette.

Haruka grabbed her hand, making the lighter slip out of Michiru's fingers. "Take this shit out of my shop and take yourself out with it," she gritted between her teeth.

"Fine, I'll wait until I'm outside." Michiru put the unlit cigarette back in her purse, her other hand still in a tight grip.

"Shouldn't be a problem." Haruka started moving towards the open garage door, dragging the smaller woman behind her.

"Haruka…"

"What?" Haruka spun her around as they got outside and let go of her arm. "What do you want, Michiru? What language do you want me to use to tell you that I don't want anything to do with you again? What _will_ you understand?"

"I don't do drugs anymore," Michiru whispered with a hopeful smile.

"So?" Haruka looked straight in the ocean blues. "It's one in the afternoon and you reek of alcohol. Switching from one substance to the other does _not_ make it better."

Haruka closed her eyes and let the air out of her lungs, slowly, calming herself down. She let Eiko know, she passed the responsibility, there was nothing she owed to the girl. "Michiru, you went from being an angel to the largest pain in the ass I've ever had in my life. Where you stand right now is your own fault, I have never promised you anything, quite to the contrary. So please, I beg of you, for the first time in my life I am begging someone, and I beg of you, _leave me alone_." She opened her eyes and looked at the attentive blues.

She was there, listening, Haruka just wasn't sure if Michiru actually heard her. The smaller woman finally nodded once. "Okay."

She turned away and walked to the black car parked on the other side of the street, her driver opening a door for her. Haruka watched the car leave her sight before she went back to her garage and under the car she was working on, ignoring Hiro's questioning stare. He knew better than to ask.

**x x x  
**

Haruka's life returned to its previous circles in the two and a half months since Michiru's visit to her garage. She did what she should have done since the very beginning - distanced herself from the smaller woman as much as she could and ignored Eiko, whose phone was now permanently blocked. She still saw Michiru at the races, every now and then, but the violinist stayed true to her promise and left Haruka alone.

Once Haruka realized that it was safe to be in the same place with Michiru and not be hunted down, a strange feeling of longing came over her, almost like a realization that the woman was out of her reach again and Haruka needed to actually do something to get her back. Haruka recognized the feeling and squashed it like an annoying bug. At least the part that consciously reached her brain.

Now it had been two weeks since she even saw the peculiar hair color and part of her brain started to ask where Michiru was, while the other, left one to be exact, reasoned that it was none of her god damn business and shut down any internal arguments the blonde may have had with herself.

Currently Haruka was blissfully watching as the first snowflakes hit the ground outside of her window and sipping on her hot chocolate. Her relaxed state was broken by a vibration of the phone against a counter and she walked to pick it up without any enthusiasm. She looked at the unknown number and hesitated before letting it go to her voicemail. Whoever it was, if she did not know them, they could wait. She was getting back in the chair wrapped in a soft blanket when the phone vibrated again, causing her to growl, but pick it up. "Tenoh."

"_You've blocked my number."_

'_Fuck, always listen to your intuition, Haruka.' _She rolled her eyes at the ceiling in despair. "That's because I didn't want to talk to you… ever… again."

"_That's very __nice__ of you, but understandable,"_ Eiko's sarcastic voice came back. _"Have you seen Michiru?"_

Haruka's brow furrowed, unbeknown to her. "Thankfully I have not."

A strange sound reached her ears through the receiver and she looked at the phone in her hand. "Are you crying?" _'Not that you should care,'_ she scolded herself.

"_I've lost her."_ Now a sob came clearly across the line.

"What do you mean you've lost her? She's not a piece of luggage, she's your daughter," Haruka pointed out evenly.

"_I don't know where she is. I can't find her. She ditched her driver one night and I haven't seen her since. Haruka, it's been a week." _

"Okay, did you report her missing?"

"_No."_ It came with a hiccup.

"Well, you should probably start there."

"_I need your help, I need you to help me find her."_

"No." Haruka was shaking her head, even though the other woman could not see her.

"_Haruka, please."_

"No. I'm not."

"_Please." _Now the words barely interrupted Eiko's cries.

"No. I've given in to your pleading once and look where it got us," Haruka replied determinedly.

"_That was different, please."_

"Eiko, you got her into this mess, you get her out. Call the police, hire someone to find her, but don't call me again."

Haruka removed the phone from her ear and disconnected the call, despite the voice that was still coming out. She walked to her chair, sat down, wrapped herself in the blanket, and watched the melting snowflakes. Every perfect flake that melted on the pane of the glass was accompanied by a pleading voice from within her and every time her mind shut the small voice down, willing Haruka not to care. She sat, unmoving, watching the flakes as the battle raged inside of her through the night, hoping that everything that happened that year would melt away with the snow and with the passing year in another two weeks.

**x x x  
**

Superintendent General Sanu Daiki decided to give a select group of his subordinates a 'Christmas gift' in the form of his presence at a drug bust scheduled for a couple of days before Christmas. It was played out as a competition between the police officers who would have the 'honor' of going in along his side and seemed to heighten the spirits of the force. For Daiki himself it was just another ego boost, and no one could have too many of those, especially not with his ambition.

At this exact moment, he was walking through the rows of people who stood on their knees, hands behind the backs of their heads, underneath one of the clubs he himself had visited before. His team was packing the lab, documenting the evidence and cuffing the suspects at his oversight. Having seen enough, he walked upstairs to the room that was quickly emptying at the sight of the policemen coming in and out. He did not bother to catch any of them, the worst they had was their own share of drugs and, compared to the people underneath his feet, literally, they were nothing. He walked through the now empty room, kicking a few empty bottles and cups that were left on the floor, until one of them reached a white hand on the impact. Daiki made his way to the box that served as a seating area and located the rest of the body that the hand belonged to.

"Fuck me with a rubber dick attached to a dyke!" He kept swearing profusely as he kneeled next to a very thin woman dressed in dark jeans and a dirty green sweater that barely covered her shoulders. Strands of wet hair were sticking to her pale face, as white foamy liquid trickled down her cheek. Daiki checked her pulse, breathing out as he finally located the dangerously slow beat after a few seconds. He pulled the sleeve of her sweater up and stared at the blue vein that contrasted against the paleness of her skin.

"You dumb bitch." He picked up the young woman and threw her over his shoulder as he took out his cell and dialed a number.

"_Hello?"_

"Sayuri, it's me, I need your help." He put his phone to his chest as he approached the door that was watched by one of his men. "Clean it up over here and call me when you boys are done."

The officer looked at his superior with a woman across his shoulder in bewilderment, but decided against asking any questions, so he just nodded.

"_Daiki, did you call me to talk to someone else?"_ a rather irritated voice asked from the phone.

"Sorry, I need you to get whatever you need for a drug overdose and meet me at your house."

He heard a sigh. _"What drug?"_

"Heroine."

"_You don't have time to get to my house, besides, I'm on call tonight." _Sayuri hummed in thought. _"How far away are you?" _

"How close do I need to be?" He already deposited the woman in the back of his car and was turning it on.

"_I'll wait for you outside the emergency room exit. Use those sirens."_

He did not bother responding as he threw the phone to the passenger seat, turned the lights on and sped along the streets. For once he was speeding legally and with a good cause.


	12. In Case of Emergency

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 12**

**In Case of Emergency**

A tall woman whose fit, curvaceous body was covered by a white robe was standing in front of the Emergency Room entrance, facing away from the building. Her short black hair was meticulously styled to create an impression of an organized mess, the features of her face were accentuated by light traces of makeup. Her light brown, almost yellow, eyes watched the street through a small cloud of smoke as she exhaled. She checked her watch again, it had only been three minutes since she got the call, but she knew he didn't have much time. She brought the cigarette back to her full lips and wondered who Daiki was bringing to her this time.

**x x x  
**

Abe Sayuri was a few years out of med school, buckling under the weight of her residency and her responsibility to pay the student loans when she came across a couple of victims of a car accident, later reported as resulting from an illegal drag race. The activity peeked her interest and she made it a point to find out as much as she could. A few months down the road she was racing her brother's Acura Integra on the roads of Tokyo every Friday night, unless she had a shift or was on call, which happened quite often. Sayuri had always been a shrewd woman and it didn't take her long to figure out who was running the show, except that, like so many others, she thought that both Daiki and Haruka were men. Sayuri had always found it easier to deal with men or make friends with men than women, so she thought that getting in close quarters with the gang members would not be a problem.

When she did start to, what she thought was getting to know them, she actually despised Daiki. It started with his foul mouth and his openly homophobic comments and ended with her knowledge of what he did during the day. Sayuri did not have many illusions about life, working in the ER as much as she did, but a corrupt cop made her want to vomit, followed by a strong desire to kick his cocky overconfident ass. His blonde buddy did not help much to better her feelings, the mouth was as foul and she had no idea what the kid did, but she soon found the two of them going at each other's throats constantly very distasteful and frustrating. It got so bad that she started feeling a bit dirty every time she came to race and had the unpleasure of sharing their company, so she pretty much stopped coming, despite the dent that that put in her income stream.

A year down the road everything changed. Sayuri was an attending in ER at that point and it was her night shift on a Friday night, when an ambulance brought a young unconscious woman whose lung collapsed from an impact of a crash, not to mention broken ribs and arm. As Sayuri worked to bring her patient back in the realm of breathing, the nurse or a resident, the young doctor did not know, nor did she really care who it was, but someone washed the blood off of the young woman's face, making Sayuri stop what she was doing and simply stare, until someone shook her out of her trance. After Haruka's lung was drained and re-pumped, her ribs bandaged and her arm in a cast, Sayuri just stood by the bed, watching a tall slim form to which IVs, catheters, oxygen, and other tubes were attached. Her shift was over, but she found herself unable to leave the hospital, unable to leave her former patient's room. She just stood there and wondered who Haruka really was, why Sayuri didn't know she was a woman, which was very obvious in her hospital gown, and how old the kid in her bed was. Because she really did not look old enough to drive, definitely less so to be racing the streets. She came out of her reverie when a dark form of a uniformed man appeared beside her.

"How's my little dyke doing?"

Sayuri stared at the man she grew to despise and for the first time it occurred to her that all the banter, all the purported homophobia (that she understood only now after discovering Haruka's gender), all the name-calling, it was all a defense mechanism. She understood that neither of the two knew how to share their feelings openly, so they chose the only way they could find. They understood each other and no one else's opinion really mattered.

Sayuri went over Haruka's condition and soon found herself talking about her own life with a man she thought she hated just the day before. They sat there, in the hospital room, through the rest of the night and the early morning, until the effect of the drugs wore off and Haruka, or a grumpier, nastier side of Haruka, woke up. Sayuri still didn't know if Haruka was telling the truth or lying when she filled the hospital paperwork, putting a name she has not heard of before on the page. Later she learned that Haruka rarely lied and the name she filled was one of the names she was given in adoption, along with the age they have incorrectly guessed.

Daiki proved to be a much more open person than Haruka in the short run. Once the young girl was out and about, despite Sayuri's advice, the doctor found herself at the races again. It was very different this time around because she felt like she shared a secret with the gang that many others didn't know. Not only did she know Haruka's gender, she saw the softer side, a side both gang members shared.

The initiation of a club rolled out soon and Sayuri was one of the first few members who had the honor to become associated with the Wing of Night. The expansion of activities of the club and her acquaintance with Daiki soon brought a number of patients to her doorstep (her house, not the hospital) and she figured that saving a life was saving a life, whether she was doing so officially or not. After a few car crashes in a row, where no one was killed, but people definitely were hurt, Sayuri confronted the Wings and informed them that their recklessness was deplorable and that neither of them had enough brains to run something as complicated as a racing club. Daiki just stared at her in appreciation, mentally applauding her guts. Haruka, on the other hand, covered her in a tirade of curses in respect to the brains of the operation before she calmed herself down and asked for Sayuri's suggestions on the safety issue. Sayuri didn't expect that from the blonde, but definitely admired her ability to deal with things that were important. A couple of weeks down the road the first set of official rules, primarily dealing with safety, were put on paper by Daiki with the input of both women. When the rules and safety meetings became the norm both Daiki and Haruka invited Sayuri to the gang, making her the third Wing.

The number of patients Sayuri had from the races decreased, her participation in the races and her income increased. All in all she was happy with both of her careers and her brand new black Nissan GTI that she actually bought, unlike the other Wings and their cars. Like many other racers, she loved her car more than she would love a person, which was fine by Sayuri. She never felt the need to be held by someone, protected by someone, loved by someone, or all those other things people that indulged in romance wished for. Sex, on the other hand, was a different story. Sayuri's personal theory was that sex was the second best stress reliever after racing, and she had a lot of stress. However, she was not willing to constantly switch partners, nor did she want a relationship, she just didn't have time for one. That was where Daiki came in. After years of knowing each other and about two years to date, they had agreed on a no-strings attached relationship, sort of friends with benefits. Neither asked for exclusivity, though both knew that Sayuri would not go outside of that arrangement, that was the whole point for her. When it came to Daiki, Sayuri told him from the beginning that she didn't care if he decided to 'air out his dick' somewhere not in her presence, so long as he got tested and waited for the results before he came near her again. Haruka laughed at their arrangement, saying that there was nothing stopping Daiki from lying to Sayuri's face, which was true, but for the fact that Daiki simply liked the arrangement too much to mess with it. So, he did as he was told.

Haruka had remained skeptical about the arrangement to this day because she didn't really trust anybody, so why would she trust two people to stay true to their agreement? Besides, she knew human nature and she knew her cousin too well. So for Haruka the arrangement was a slowly ticking bomb that she was expecting to blow up in the midst of the Wings at any given point, which was exactly why she found every possible opportunity to show her dislike of the situation. The only thing that seemed to do, though, was strain the relationship between the two women, while having no effect on the relationship between Daiki and the doctor. It got to the point where the two started avoiding each other outside of the business they shared and only periodically heared about each other in passing through Daiki.

**x x x  
**

The almost yellow eyes watched as a black SUV with blinking lights, exerting a painful noise, entered the parking lot at a high speed. Daiki halted in front of the woman and got out of the car. Sayuri threw the cigarette in the receptacle and walked to the back door that he opened, pulling a syringe out of the pocket of her white coat.

"Don't they teach you in med school that cigarettes are bad?" Daiki smirked at her as he moved the woman in the back seat out, supporting her under the arms.

"Will you keep asking me that same stupid question my whole life?" Sayuri replied in annoyance, checking the pulse and the eyes before she stuck the needle in a blue vein, right next to other, older spots.

A gasp escaped the woman as her ocean blue eyes opened and she tried to sit up, not realizing that her body was half-hanging in the air.

"Good. She's back. I would dispose of her as soon as you can." Yellow eyes looked at the black ones.

"Why?" Daiki raised a brow.

"She's gonna turn into one mean bitch." Sayuri raised the syringe. "Precipitates withdrawal."

Sayuri watched as Daiki shoved the woman back in, closed the door unceremoniously and took out his phone. "Honey, could you take out the trash?" he began as soon as the ringing stopped, not waiting for an answer from the other end.

"_What the fuck are you on?" _

"Why do people always sound so irritated when I call them?" Daiki was looking at the woman in front of him, even though he meant the comment for both of his listeners.

"_You never bring good news."_

"I'm with her." Sayuri pointed to the phone before waiving her hand goodbye and walking through the sliding doors of the emergency room.

"Yes, well, tough shit, you're stuck with me." Daiki got back in the car. "You're home?"

"_I won't be when you get here."_

"Smart girl, but then again, I'll just drop the present at your door for your neighbors to see." He looked in the rearview mirror at a disheveled woman who was trying to sit up, growling and mumbling something under her breath.

"_What exactly are we talking about?"_

"Michiru."

"_No, uh uh. You're not bringing her here. Whatever it is, take her home, I'll tell you the address."_

"See, here I thought you actually cared for a poor lost soul."

"_The only soul I care about is mine, so do me a favor and take her where she belongs."_

"You're not even a tiny bit curious about what happened?" Daiki raised a brow, knowing that his cousin was about to lie to his face. Well, at least to his ear.

"_No, I'm not, that's how much I care. Take her home, Daiki."_

"Okay," he sighed. "Where am I going?"

**x x x  
**

Almost two hours of continuous arguing with herself later, Haruka was about to call Daiki and ask what happened to Michiru when she heard a knock on her front door. She frowned and walked to the metal door, checking who her late visitor was through a peephole. Eiko's flustered face appeared through the fish lens and Haruka swore, wondering how the damn woman found her and what the hell she was doing on her doorstep. She unlocked the door and let her in nonetheless, she had a neighborly image to uphold.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed at the shorter blonde.

Eiko walked in, hugging her body, and looked back at the racer, ignoring her surroundings. "Michiru is in the car."

"And?" Haruka was drilling her eyes through the woman.

"She overdosed on heroin." Eiko's eyes were red, but no tears spilled over them.

Haruka fought to keep her indifferent front as her brain processed the fact. She really was hoping that Michiru would never hit the rock bottom, but she did.

"She's an addict, Haruka."

"Tell me something I don't already know." She figured she could just speak her mind openly, there was no point in not telling the woman exactly what Haruka thought on the subject.

"She needs help."

"Take her to a rehab."

"I can't." Eiko shook her head.

"Sure you can," Haruka insisted.

"You don't understand, it will get out, it will be leaked to the press, it will ruin her image and our family's image forever."

"Wow, you are really shallow. What does it matter?" Haruka wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"It's an image we've been working on our whole life, it matters," Eiko defended.

Haruka shrugged. "Hire someone to take care of her, put her somewhere no one else can find her, take her out of the country. Why are _we_ talking?"

"I want you to help her recover."

Loud and clear. Haruka just heard that loud and clear. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

Eiko nodded her head. "No, you got her into this, you help her to get out."

"Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. You," Haruka pointed an accusing finger at the older woman. "_You_ got her into this. _You_ asked me to take her out on a date, which I did. _You_ called me begging to let her see the race, which I cannot or at least do not make custom to forbid for anyone to do. I warned _you_ and I warned _her_ about the possibilities of her being where she was. Neither of you listened. So don't walk around transferring blame on me, when it's _your_ god damn fucking fault." She was breathing heavily, her throat sore from yelling. There was no way she would get herself into that, not any more than she already was.

"Yes, I did do that, but I could not foresee any of this happening," Eiko said evenly.

"Really? Would you care to explain to me how a level-headed virgin socialite ends up being a low-life drug addict in about six months?"

"Her father had a problem with substance abuse," Eiko whispered.

"Excuse me?" Haruka was fighting to keep her jaw up at the revelation.

"He would have drank himself to death if the cancer he died from didn't spare him."

Now Haruka's jaw did drop before it came back up in an angry tirade. "Fucking A, woman, and you're just thinking about a little thing like this now?" Haruka felt like slapping Eiko or shaking the life out of her, neither of which she did. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I didn't think she took after him, okay?" Eiko finally shouted. "They are both very good at hiding their addiction in the early stages."

Haruka was still fuming, trying to keep her hands to herself. "Well, this just confirms that it's all your fault, what do you want from me?"

"I want you to help her."

"I'm not Red Cross, I'm not a rehab, I'm not a fucking guardian angel!" Haruka exploded again. "Get the hell out of my house and don't cross my path again!"

Haruka turned Eiko around and was about to push her out of the door when the older woman spoke again: "I will tell him."

Haruka's hands froze. "What?"

"I will tell Hideo everything I know about you, Hiro, and other friends you have at the club." Eiko turned around.

"You know nothing, bitch." Haruka's voice was very steady and very low.

Eiko nodded confidently. "I know your name, I know what you drive and where you live. I know where you work. I know that Sanu Daiki races as well, whether he is a member or not. I know a lot of things that will be very interesting to the commission that my husband heads. So, unless you want me to share that information, you will take care of my daughter."

Haruka's heart was racing so fast and so loud it was deafening to her ears. "You manipulative heartless bitch."

"I know," Eiko answered in the same even tone she hah been using throughout the conversation. "I know who I am and I can live with that. What I can't live with is my daughter killing herself because she can't deal with a stupid crush she convinced herself of having." She blinked the tears away from the corners of her eyes. "So, I may be at fault for her drug addition, but I never meant nor could I foresee her addiction to you. That is _your_ fault. _You_ deal with it and give me my daughter back."

Haruka would have laughed out loud if she didn't know that the woman was deadly serious. Her annoying left side of the brain informed her that it was her own fault for not listening in the beginning and going on the stupid date and then getting involved with the woman. She wanted to slap herself on the head to stop that voice, but knew that it wouldn't help. A little cheer came from her heart at the opportunity to play nurse and her pissed, angry and very big, very scary ego muffled that cheer with a load of crap. What was left was a woman pissed beyond belief at herself, but willing to take it out on anyone who came in front of her first, especially the instrument that was about to inflict her punishment for her own carelessness and stupidity. "No one blackmails me!" the egotistic part of Haruka seethed through her teeth.

"There is first for everything." Eiko maintained the eye contact with the cold grays.

"I didn't say that no one has ever tried."

Eiko hid her fear at the words that were pronounced in a very low and dangerous voice and held on tightly to her mask of indifference. "What are you going to do, kill me?" She tried to make it sound as sarcastic as she could.

"That's always worked before."

"You won't dare," Eiko gulped.

"Won't I?" Haruka took a step closer, watching the confidence finally leave Eiko's face, replaced by an unsure expression and a glint of fear in her light blue eyes. "You have no idea who you're dealing with."

"I don't," Eiko agreed. "But I know enough to trade a favor for a favor and if something happens to me, there is always Michiru, who knows more than I do. Then, there are other means of exposing you, even from the grave."

Haruka wasn't sure how much of it was bluff, but she wasn't about to risk it. She knew that people could do anything when they were pushed to the limit and Eiko had reached hers. Haruka stretched the silence before delivering her ultimatum. "Here is the deal. I will keep your daughter. Not as a patient who needs rehab because you asked me so nicely, but as a safety precaution. If your husband happens to come across any information from you, you will never see her again. If your husband comes across any information otherwise, information that may be of interest to me, you will let me know. Is that understood?"

Eiko suddenly regretted bringing her daughter to Haruka, but in her mind she had no choice. She would lose Michiru if she didn't, at least the chance of losing her to Haruka was smaller. She nodded.

"I didn't hear you. Is that understood?" Haruka's face was just inches away from the older woman's.

"Yes," Eiko forced out before taking a step back into the wall behind her.

Haruka opened the door and let the woman escape through. "Bring her in."

She shut the door and hit the wall as hard as she could with her bare foot, sending another long string of curses in the name of the older blonde woman. The wall, however, responded by sending shooting pain through Haruka's foot, making her eyes water. The door opened as she started to jump on one leg, holding the other with her hand.

Eiko looked at her momentarily but decided not to push it by asking what was going on. "She's not really in any condition to walk."

Haruka stared at her, dark grays narrowing as she let her foot down and brushed past the woman, walking or, more accurately, hopping to the car. She swung the passenger door of a black Lexus open and found a shivering shadow of a woman she once knew. Michiru looked like she lost weight that she could not afford to lose because it made her look like a skeleton, her hair was hanging in unbrushed clumps, her extremely pale skin was covered in beads of sweat, and her dull blue eyes glistened with fever.

"What the fuck did you do to yourself, mermaid?" Haruka's mouth asked while her brain was still assessing the damage. She picked the trembling form up and carried her inside the house, trying to balance her weight on her non-hurting foot, which made that whole experience even more agitating.

Eiko held the door open as the racer carried her daughter in. Once inside, Haruka stood in thought for a moment before depositing Michiru down on the floor.

"You're just going to leave her on the cold floor? Ha -" Eiko stopped at the mean expression on Haruka's face.

"That ball of dir," Haruka pointed at the girl who curled up in fetal position on the floor. "Is not coming in contact with my furniture and what I do with her is no longer of any concern to you. You are, however, going to send her some clothes, preferably nothing of her new acquisitions, I'm not providing that for her as well."

Eiko nodded, swallowing whatever questions or retorts she had. She gave her daughter another glance and turned around towards the still open door, feeling the tears streaming down her face again.

"Eiko."

She didn't turn around, but waited for Haruka to say whatever it was she wanted to say.

"Don't bring those clothes here, I have no desire to see you, and the only time I want to hear from you is when you have something valuable to report to me. Send Michiru's driver with her stuff."

Eiko nodded before she walked out of the door and to her car, trying to see through all the water that was clouding her eyes.

Haruka locked the door and set the security system on before she looked at the human ball on the floor again and congratulated herself out loud. "Merry early Christmas, Haruka, you finally got your first fucking present."


	13. Lucky Me

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**Lucky Me**

Haruka was still standing in the middle of the room, or the middle of the floor, considering that there were no walls on the ground level with the exception of the pane of glass that separated the garage from the rest of theliving space. Her mind was trying to come up with a solution for her latest problem, while that problem shivered on the floor in fetal position. Still not finding a solution, but realizing that a cold or pneumonia would only make things worse, Haruka picked up the creature from the floor and carried her downstairs. She walked through the hallway and kicked the door to the bathroom open with her foot, moved the soft fluffy green rug out of the way and put the woman back on the floor. Haruka fought with Michiru, who tried to curl back into her previous position, while the blonde tried to remove her disgusting clothes. Haruka won, being stronger in the first place, and especially stronger in comparison to Michiru in her current state. Haruka grabbed the garments and left the bathroom, disposing of the stinking, soiled fabrics, by taking them all the way to the outside trash can.

She found Michiru in the same spot, in her now favorite position. Haruka considered just shoving the smaller woman in the spacious shower cabin, but decided against it and turned on the water in the wide bathtub instead. Haruka rolled her sleeves up before depositing the shaking form in the hot water, for which she got a loud groan and indecipherable mumbling through Michiru's shaking teeth. A small smile appeared in the corner of Haruka's mouth; paying back to her pain in the ass charge was very satisfying. She waited for the bathtub to fill before she turned the water off and climbed on the counter that surrounded the inset bathtub, right behind Michiru's back, spreading her legs on the sides and making herself comfortable, Haruka looked at the mess of dirty hair right in front of her. She contemplated the best way to do it, before she simply put a hand on top of Michiru's head and pushed her under the water, holding her there for a few seconds.

"What the fuck?" It sounded angry, but funny at the same time because Michiru was gargling on the water that got in her mouth as she forced the words out.

"Ah, so you didn't lose the ability to speak, that should be a delight." Haruka, unfortunately, had seen enough people going through withdrawal to know what was ahead of her. She kind of wished the smaller woman would remain quiet for a long time, otherwise she was risking giving Haruka an opportunity to take some of her anger out.

Michiru didn't respond, shivering continuously despite the warm water around her. Haruka sighed as she dumped a good amount of shampoo in the dark green mess and started to massage it. The action was very rough at first, almost like Haruka tried to force all the bad things Michiru thought about doing, along with all the thoughts of Haruka out of the violinist's head by pressing on her scull, but then her fingers softened as they got tangled in a mess of foamy long hair. Haruka contemplated her next action, before she stilled both of her hands and pushed Michiru under the water again to wash the shampoo off. Michiru didn't use words this time, instead she pulled on Haruka's hands with just enough force to make the blonde dive into the water, head first.

"You little ungrateful bitch." Haruka wiped the dirty water off of her face before she untangled her own body from its uncomfortable position and stared at the little shivering fury in her tub. Haruka stood up on her knees and reached for the shampoo bottle again, this time settling down behind the younger woman in the tub, no longer having to lose anything. She washed her hair again, this time pulling it intentionally to make Michiru pay for getting her clothes wet. Michiru cringed at the little pains now and then, but didn't utter a word.

Haruka grabbed the showerhead from the side of the bath and washed off the clean hair. She then bit on her lower lip, trying to figure out exactly how much conditioner she had to use to make that curly mess manageable. A handful of white substance later, she massaged it gently into the scull that she knew must have been burning from all her intentional and unintentional pulling. She washed it off again and grabbed a sponge. Michiru didn't really make it easy or help Haruka to get around the skinny body with the sponge, so the blonde was even more irritated by the time she emptied the dirty water and showered the semi-soapy figure with the clean water out of the showerhead. Haruka was about to get out of the tub when she realized that her clothes were drenched in dirty water. She quickly stripped them off, left them in the tub and stepped out, grabbing a towel that matched the rug on the floor.

She draped it over Michiru's shoulders and left her sitting in the empty tub. Haruka stepped into the shower and quickly washed any remnants of the dirt Michiru brought to her house off. She grabbed another towel and dried herself, moving the fluffy rug back in its place with her foot while she did so. She wrapped the towel around her body and looked at the woman in the tub.

"Are you going to get out of there by yourself or do I have to carry you around forever?"

Her hard facial expression softened just a little as she saw a shaking hand reach the edge of the tub and watched Michiru struggle to get up from her sitting position. Haruka cocked her head to the side and watched the unsuccessful attempts for another few minutes before she leaned down and took Michiru out of her misery. Haruka carried her to the bedroom, for the lack of any other place to take her, and deposited her on the bed. She reached her wardrobe and pulled two tank tops and two sets of yoga pants out, followed by some underwear. She quickly dressed herself before she dried the still wet spots on Michiru's body and pulled the clothes over the smaller woman. Haruka put her hand on Miciru's forehead and figured that the fever was probably still rising. She removed the blankets from underneath the smaller woman and covered her with them, leaving her arms out. That action prompted her to stoowns old each wrist and inspect the large blue veins. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it wasn' a habit Michiru just picked up either. Haruka was pulled out of her thoughts by the intense stare of the ocean blue eyes that shined unhealthy. She sighed, let go of Michiru, got up, and left the room.

Haruka walked up the stairs and found her cellphone. She still had no plan, but she was by no means going to suffer through this alone. No, she was going to make other people suffer as well. She went through her list of contacts and dialed the number for the messenger.

"_In your own words, are you out of your god damn mind?"_ came a grouchy response.

"Get a disposable phone, I'm gonna be calling a lot," Haruka announced nonchalantly.

"_What, you decided to reconnect with family?"_

"That and more, you don't have the slightest idea." That sounded more threatening.

"_I already don't like it."_

"Are you done with playing a good cop?" She was referring to Daiki's bust at the underground drug lab.

"_I am."_

"Good. I need you to go shopping."

"_You are out of your god damn fucking mind. I don't run your errands."_

"You are since I can't run them and it's all your fault."

"_Excuse me?"_

"Apology accepted." Haruka ignored the muttered curses and continued: "I'm gonna e-mail you a list of things I need. Also, can you stop by and get some warm food somewhere? I'm starving."

She patiently listened to another explanation of Daiki's feelings for her and her ordering him around like a bus boy before he agreed. She knew that his curiosity had to do a lot with that agreement, he wanted to know what was going on and she wouldn't tell him. His curiosity was his downfall when it came to her ability to manipulate him.

"_How many people am I getting food for?"_

Haruka figured that Michiru was long ways from accepting food. "Three."

"_Okay, kid, it better be good."_

"Oh, trust me, you're gonna have a ball when you get here." She knew he would. She also knew she would never hear the end of it because not only did she put herself in the position to be blackmailed, but she also agreed to take care of someone. Yes, Daiki would not let that one go easily.

"_See you then."_

She disconnected and dialed another number.

"_My popularity has increased exponentially tonight. What do you want?"_ came an irritated greeting.

"Are you anywhere near a hospital by any chance?" Haruka smiled at the phone.

"_Not if you need something. I've saved enough lives tonight, my conscience is clear."_

"Yeah, one of those lives ended up in my sorry hands."

"_Let me guess, she looks something like a violinist you claimed not to have any interest in?"_

Haruka remembered exactly why she didn't like to talk to the woman. "Sayuri -"

"_It's Abe-sensei for you, unless you're doing something divine that benefits me."_

And that was why Haruka liked her. The woman was straightforward. "No, actually I was hoping you would do something that benefits me."

"_Uh huh."_

"I need you to stop by and bring whatever it is your former patient needs."

"_Is she in shock?"_

"I am in shock, I have no idea if she is."

"_Not that kind of shock, you idiot, I was using a medical term. She did overdose, you know?"_

"Yes, I have been made aware of the fact!" Haruka snorted. _'Right before I was forced to deal with the consequences.'_

"_Great, that just makes me so much more confident in you. How is her pulse, her temperature, her breathing? I'm not even going to ask about blood pressure."_

"She has a fever and it's rising, I have no idea about the rest of it."

"_Wow, you're so helpful."_ Haruka heard a long sigh. _"I get out in another hour, don't do anything, I'll stop by."_

"Thanks."

"_You're welcome. Where am I stopping by?"_

"My house."

There was a long pause. _"You brought the girl to your house?" _

"Oh no, I didn't. I still have digits left in my brain. It's a long story."

"_Okay then. I'll bring whatever you're going to need."_

"Sayuri..." Haruka hesitated.

"_Yes?"_

"Can you bring whatever you need to test her for HIV and other shit she could've picked up as well?"

Now the hesitation was on the other end of the line. _"I will save my response as to your claim for not caring about the girl until I get there. Yes, I'll bring the kit."_

"Thanks, Say." Haruka heard the groan and smiled. Sayuri did hate it when Haruka shortened her name, especially since their relationship became stranded. Her smile got even wider as the short beeps replaced the silence in her ear.

**x x x  
**

Forty minutes later Haruka opened the door to a very upset-looking Daiki. He was wearing his regular black jeans, black turtleneck sweater and a black leather jacket. The expression on his face was as dark as his choice of clothing.

"There is a reason I don't have a wife or kids. This…" He raised both of his hands that held full bags of things he just purchased. "… is one of the reasons why I don't."

"Thank's honey, you're such a dear." She gave him a brilliant smile as he scowled back.

Daiki deposited the bags on the floor before taking his jacket off.

"Don't you ever freeze in that thing?" Haruka eyed the garment he hang on a hook by the door.

"What are you, my mother now? I already have one of those and she's an even bigger bitch than you are." He picked up the bag with food and carried it to the kitchen. "Now explain to me why I just went shopping in the middle of the night?"

Haruka decided to save her breath and motioned towards the stairs with her head instead. Daiki obediently followed her, stopping in the doorway of her bedroom as she held the door open. The white blanket covered a mound that resembled a curled-up human and strands of wet sea-green hair hung off the side of the bed.

Daiki turned to Haruka and just stared at her. For a very long moment. Her expression, however, was absolutely void, so his action didn't bring any answers. "How did she get here and why is she in your bed?"

Haruka closed the door as they both made their way upstairs. "She is in my bed because that's the only bed I have in the house. She's in my house because her bitch of a mother blackmailed me into taking her in."

Daiki watched as Haruka picked up the bags he left by the door and waited for her to elaborate, which she did not. "And?"

"I'll tell you while we're having food." She took the bags downstairs and reappeared shortly after.

Daiki was taking the cartons out of the bag when Haruka came back. "She didn't seem like she was going to join us for dinner, so why don't you start telling me what happened?"

Haruka shook her head. "She's not, Sayuri is, so I would rather save my breath."

Daiki looked up in surprise. "You invited Sayuri to your house?"

"Didn't really have a choice, did I?"

"That depends on what you're going to tell me while my stomach gets filled."

Haruka nodded as she took the cartons from the counter and carried them to the coffee table. She moved the two chairs away and threw three pillows around the table, taking a seat on one of them and crossing her legs.

Daiki came up with the rest of the food and set it down, lowering himself to the floor as well. "You know, you need to expand on your furniture collection if you're intending to house people or even invite them over."

"Nah, I'm just gonna make you all deal with it." She grabbed a pair of chopsticks and dug into one of the deliciously smelling boxes. After another knock on the door some minutes later, Haruka got up and walked to open it, her chopsticks still firm in her fingers.

"Just so you know, I've never been a fan of house calls and that's exactly why I work at ER... Hmmm… whose fabulous idea was it to get food? I'm starving." Sayuri dropped a large duffel bag on the floor as Haruka closed the door behind her, smiling.

"This is the divine treatment you get because I called you by your first name," Haruka teased.

Sayuri looked at her, chewing on a mouthful of rice noodles. "Silly me thought it was a thank you for getting a shitload of medical stuff to your house."

"Silly you." Haruka dove to the side at the sight of menacing chopsticks pointed her way. "You know, it is offensive to do that with your chopsticks, use them like a good girl you are."

Sayuri snorted, but put her chopsticks towards another portion of food she was intending to grab. Daiki rubbed his hands as he swallowed. "Explanation first, cute family stuff later. Lay it out."

Haruka told them exactly what happened in detail, not because she cared about satisfying their curiosity, but because it concerned all of them. Eiko's threat was a result of her desperation, but it could not be ignored, nor could it be simply dismissed.

Daiki stopped eating in the middle of the explanation and was simply waiting for Haruka to finish before he gave his thoughts on the subject. Once she signaled that she was done, he didn't hesitate to do so. "Do you want me to take care of her?"

Haruka's threat of killing Eiko was close to what she wanted to do, but it was nothing more than a petty threat - she has never killed anyone in her life and she intended it to be that way. Daiki, on the other hand, had dealt with life and death as a daily matter and Haruka learned early in their relationship that he didn't hesitate to take a life away if it protected his interests. The Wing of Night and Haruka were included in those interests.

"No, I don't." She shook her head.

"Why not?" That came from Sayuri and would have been odd, seeing how she was all about saving lives, except that her question was based on the interest in Haruka's reasoning, not the actual desire to get rid of Kaioh Eiko.

"Because I think we can use her to our advantage," Haruka replied simply.

"Are you sure it's that and not that she's related to the woman downstairs?" Daiki was on the same trail of thought as Sayuri.

"Why would it matter?"

"It matters because if your reasoning is based on the fact that she's married to Shimizu, then I'm talking to the cold-blooded Haruka I know. If your reasoninoffs based on the fact that she is the mother of the girl you claim not to care for, then I'm talking to somebody who is driven by feelings, not logic."

"That wasn't what I meant by my question."

"Well, it is what we want to know," Sayuri said simply.

Haruka closed her eyes, willing her brain to come up with an answer. "Eiko got herself into this mess all on her own, if you feel that she's too much of a threat, get rid of her." She opened her gray eyes. "I still think that we can use her proximity to Shimizu to our advantage. She'll do anything to protect her daughter and we have her daughter."

Two sets of piercing eyes drilled through her scull, trying to reach her soul, but both knew that they would never get that far. Her logic was sound and cold, just like it had always been, they just weren't sure how much of it she really meant.

"You're walking on thin ice, kid," Daiki said finally.

"I always walk on thin ice, otherwise I get rusty, Dai."

He smiled at her, recognizing the teenager who grew up alongside him in the woman sitting across the table. That line of thought took him out of the business mood and put him in a teasing one. "You should wear some heels and a dress to a race one of these days."

Haruka's eyes bulged as she followed his eyes. "Stop staring at my boobs, you fucking pedophile."

Daiki laughed in return. "You're not a child anymore, so you can't call me that."

"I call you that cuz you did the same thing when I was a child," she retorted, squinting her eyes.

"You never were a child, according to you."

"I was a child by age, you're so old you could've been my father!"

"Wow." He raised both of his hands in defense. "God forbid I have a bitch like you as a child. Besides, I don't think even I made kids at fourteen."

"Here we go again," Sayuri murmured as she watched the two banter. Her attention was caught by a movement to the side and she elbowed the blonde who was half-jumping on her knees.

"What?" Haruka barked, irritated by the light jabbing.

"The love of your life is crawling up the stairs." Sayuri pointed in the direction of the stairs for the dumbfounded racer.

Haruka turned and watched in stunned silence (stunned at the words uttered by the doctor who she was too surprised to strangle) as Michiru tried to literally crawl up the stairs. She then got up and walked to the girl, leaning over her. "Where do you think you're going?"

Michiru's shiny eyes looked at the face above her, her dry, cracking lips opened to respond, but the darkness relieved her of that obligation.

"She's burning up," Haruka announced as she grabbed the collapsing form and took her back downstairs.

"Time to play doctor." Sayuri got up and walked to the large bag that was left by the door, forgotten to this point.

"I want you to play that with me," Daiki smirked from his pillow.

"I will, later." They shared a knowing smile before making their way to the bedroom, where Sayuri got to work. A portable monitor was connected first, showing Michiru's vitals, which were still a bit too low for Sayuri's liking. After a little hesitation, Sayuri connected an IV through one of the veins in Michiru's hands, avoiding the large abused veins in her arms. "This is for her dehydration, you're gonna have to keep an eye on the bag, but mostly keep an eye on Michiru, she might just pull it out when she wakes up, you probably don't want that much blood around your bedroom."

Haruka's raised eyebrow was ignored by the busy doctor. "I'm going to give her something for the fever and put a catheter in for now, I want to know her urine output." Sayuri didn't really care about the presence of two other people in the room as she went to do so.

"I think she has the beautiful bouquet of both the overdose and withdrawal symptoms, but withdrawal ones are going to come through a lot clearer in the next twenty-four hours. I'll come back in maybe twelve to see how she's doing. Keep all of these attached until then." Sayuri finally faced Haruka, who nodded.

Haruka watched as the doctor pulled out a kit and drew blood from the needle she already inserted, before connecting the IV tube. She then took a swab from Michiru's mouth and marked the small containers, put them back inside her bag and pulled another identical kit out. "Give me your arm."

"Excuse me?" Haruka stared at Sayuri who faced her with a very determined expression Haruka did not like.

"Give me you arm." Sayuri broke open the seal on the kit, then took a new syringe and an elastic band out of her bag.

"What do you think you're gonna do with my arm?" Haruka took a step backwards.

"I'm going to test you."

"What for?" Haruka unconsciously rubbed her arm.

"The same shit I just tested your girlfriend for."

"She's not my girlfriend," Haruka mumbled, taking another step back.

"I was using a figure of speech. In either case, you probably are in a worse shape than she is."

"I don't do drugs, I don't share syringes," Haruka defended.

"No, but you do exchange bodily fluids with who knows how many people on a regular basis."

"Yeah, I know and I get tested regularly, without your barbaric methods." Haruka swallowed.

"I beg you pardon?" Sayuri was actually offended.

"She's afraid of needles, Say," Daiki explained from the corner.

Sayuri smiled at the terrified blonde, finding it ironic that the tough girl in front of her was afraid of needles and wondering why she did not know that delightful fact until now. She just found the best way to get back at the blonde for anything and everything the blonde has ever done to her. "Then how do you get tested?"

"Rapid tests, you stick them in your mouth."

"I know where you stick them, you dumb blonde. They're not nearly as good as blood tests."

"Yeah, except that they don't have needles and don't take two weeks to give you the result."

"So you're actually concerned about the result?" Sayuri was having a time of her life.

"I'm not stupid, of course I'm concerned."

"You're stupid enough to be careless."

"So are you!" Haruka shot back.

"No, I only sleep with one partner," Sayuri argued.

"Who sleeps with who knows how many," Haruka retorted.

"Don't bring me into your fight, I've nothing to do with it," Daiki warned from the comfort of his corner.

Sayuri reached her boiling point after the comment that they ended up with in every conversation she had with Haruka, so she decided to end the argument. "The blood can be tested for a whole array of things that you may have, so I am drawing it whether you want it or not."

"What, are you going to force me?" Haruka chose that moment to take another step back and walk into Daiki.

"She gives me sex, you give me nothing but a pain in the ass, I'm gonna do what she says," he informed from behind her back.

Haruka's body stiffened in an automatic response of preparing for self-defense.

"I'm not going to draw your blood by force, Haruka. Either you give me your arm or I will walk out of here with everything I brought and you can look for another doctor who will be similarly generous."

'_Am I being blackmailed for the second time today? I am fucking being blackmailed for the second time!'_ Haruka threw her head back, stopping herself from screaming in frustration or kicking the man who was standing behind her with all the desire to do so she had been bottling up. After she felt like she could at least somewhat control herself, she sat down on the bed and extended her right arm to Sayuri, turning away in the opposite direction.

"Good girl." Sayuri smiled, not in a good way, as she tightened the elastic band over Haruka's bicep and pumped the vein. She gently put the needle in and took the band off, allowing the blood to freely fill the container attached to the needle. She removed it when it was full and replaced it with another one.

"Shit, how many of those do you need?" Haruka was starting to feel lightheaded as Sayuri kept switching the blood receptacles.

"As many as I do," Sayuri replied innocently. She removed the last receptacle, then the needle, and put a piece of cotton on the red dot that formed inside Haruka's elbow. "Hold it."

Haruka hugged her folded arm close to her body and stared at the offending needle that soon disappeared in a small bag with the words 'Hazardous Materials' on it.

"I'll let you know when I get the results for these."

"Can't wait." Haruka grimaced as Sayuri replaced the cotton ball with a bandaid.

"Call me if something goes wrong, otherwise I'll see you in twelve hours." Sayuri grabbed her bag. Haruka walked them both out, set the alarm and prepared herself for the rest of the night from hell.


	14. Hell

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated "M" for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 14**

**Hell**

Michiru heard voices around her as she struggled to stay with reality, only to fall into the depths of unconsciousness. She didn't know how long she had been in and out of this world by the time she was able to stick to it long enough to want to be taken by the darkness again. Her entire body felt like all the racers she knew drove over it, followed by some mean kicking of the losers. She couldn't open her eyes, she felt like she didn't have the energy to even do that. Beads of sweat tickled her as they trickled down her body and her brain slowly noted that she was undressed below the waist. Michiru desperately wanted to open her eyes and see where she was and what was going on around her, but she couldn't as the sleep took over her once again.

**x x x  
**

Then next time she woke up, she opened her eyes in the darkness of a room barely lit by the moonlight. Her body was still covered in sweat, she was laying on her back, and an annoying itching sensation was bothering her in her left arm. She gathered the little strength she had to bring her right hand up and reach for her left, to get rid of the annoying bug, but a firm grip on her wrist prevented her from doing so.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

She recognized the voice, it was husky, familiar, even soothing, despite its mean tone. She wanted to ask why she couldn't get rid of the annoying feeling, but the world spun around and she felt like she was being carried away by a gentle but unyielding wave, right into the sea of darkness.

The daylight blinded her when she woke up again. She felt a cold cloth travel up and down her body, relieving her of some of the sweat. It felt like the best caress she had ever felt in her life and she wanted it to never stop. However, it did come to an end and her body was all of a sudden shivering from the chills. She mentally inspected her own body, her eyes closed, and felt like her hands and legs were starting to get cramps. She tried to flex them to relieve that growing notion, but found that she didn't have enough energy to do that.

**x x x**

An unfamiliar female voice was talking above her head as she became conscious. Michiru didn't try to open her eyes and just listened to the conversation.

"She did coke before? You're lucky she didn't come up with mixing the two up yet, we would've been spending Christmas Day at her funeral." The woman's voice sounded amused.

"I don't know what would've been better," the husky one replied.

"Oh, stop it, you're like a big child who denies liking a toy, only to take it away from the other kids who want to play with it."

"I do no such thing." The husky voice became familiarly annoyed.

"You would, given the chance," yhe other female voice replied.

"Who gave you the notion that you know me-"

Michiru stopped listening as a loud scream rang in her ears; she only realized it was hers when she found herself sitting upright, staring at two surprised faces.

"That would be the extra sensitivity of the genitals," Sayuri announced as she pulled the catheter all the way out. "Sorry."

"You know, you could've been a bit more careful if you knew that to be a side effect," Haruka grumbled.

"See, now you're turning all bully on me because I may have touched your toy," Sayuri smirked.

"More like permanently crippled it." Haruka gestured to Michiru who was sitting upright, unmoving, her eyes wide, her mouth still open from her scream.

"That's easily fixed."

Michiru felt a soft hand reach her forehead and push her steadily down. Her last thought before she fell asleep was that she never wanted to see that woman anywhere near her body again.

**x x x**

Michiru was no longer half-naked upon her next awakening, nor was she tied down with any tubes. It was getting dark outside and she felt like every bone in her body was melting, seeping through her nonexistent muscle. She opened her eyes and struggled to sit up.

"Where are you going?"

She turned at the sound of a tired voice and saw Haruka sitting on the bed, her back against the headboard.

"Bathroom," Michiru mastered as she finally got control of her body and sat up, moving her feet to the floor.

"Want help?" Haruka watched her struggle.

"No." Michiru was determined to make it out of bed on her own. Her body, however, wasn't really cooperating and her bones hurt so much that as soon as her feet touched the floor, her body followed, landing her sprawled on the cold concrete.

"Want help now?" Haruka didn't move until she heard a mumble that was most likely an agreement.

Michiru was still trying to pick herself up when strong arms pulled her up in one motion and set her on her feet. She shook unsteadily as the arms left her and felt a hand grab her upper arm, guiding her to the bathroom. She landed on the toilet with all the force her weight and gravity exerted and cried out in pain. She saw Haruka's indifferent face look at her through her own tears and flinched as a hand approached her.

Haruka wiped the blood that trickled down Michiru's nose from the impact with the unforgiving floor with her thumb, washed her hand in the sink and left the miserable woman by herself. She walked back into the bedroom and changed the dirty sheets. She heard the toilet flush and waited to see if Michiru made it back on her own. She did not, so Haruka went back to the bathroom to find Michiru slowly crawling back towards the bedroom. Haruka made a tsking noise with her tongue before she opened the door to the shower stall and turned the water on.

"Crawl in there."

Michiru tried to raise her head to Haruka's face, but that proved to be too high. She remembered sweating every time she woke up, so she slowly made her way towards the warm water, as directed. It even felt relieving to her bones to feel the water hug her body as it trickled down from a wide shower head. Michiru sat down and brought her knees to her chest, right in the middle of the stream of water.

Haruka set a sponge and a bottle of liquid soap in front of the sitting woman. "Wash yourself." She closed the see-through door, leaned against the sink counter and watched Michiru do nothing.

"Why are you so mean to me?" Michiru finally whispered, not even sure if Haruka could hear her through the water.

"I don't like to be manipulated."

"I didn't manipulate you."

"Not consciously or directly, your mother did that for you, but you're still the cause."

"Let me go, I'll relieve you of my presence."

Haruka chuckled. "Oh no, that's someone who wants to go for another score talking. So, no, I'm not letting you go."

"You just like to watch me suffer!" Michiru managed to shout.

"You did this to yourself, it's a result of your own stupidity, so I have absolutely no remorse for you."

"So you seek me out and drag me here to torture me?" Michiru was shivering again.

Haruka narrowed her eyes. "I didn't bring you here. I would much rather prefer to never see you again. Unfortunately for both of us, you almost killed yourself and I'm stuck here with you because your mother is desperate enough to go against me."

Michiru had no idea whatsoever what the blonde was talking about, all she knew was that Haruka asked her to stay away and she did. It wasn't easy to not follow up on the desire of being next to the blonde, so Michiru found other ways to occupy her time with her new friends. Then... then she just found herself in a whirlwind where the few minutes of euphoria made her feel whole and complete, truly happy, while the rest of the time she was miserable, angry and alone. So she kept on going in search of that euphoria by any means she could achieve. She remembered seeing her mother, the demon and Haruka, but she didn't know what was part of reality and what was part of her hallucinations anymore. In fact, she didn't even know if her sitting on the floor of Haruka's shower was real or just a figment of the imagination brought on by the chemical high. "Then you should've let me die."

There was a note of determination in that voice that Haruka suspected wasn't a bluff. That suspicion was exactly why she needed to know how serious Michiru was. She disconnected herself from the counter, opened the shower stall, turned the water off and left the bathroom. She came back in and faced the still sitting woman. "You want to die? Here, do it."

Michiru forced her head to fall backwards, which resulted in her eyes falling on a black gun that was extended in Haruka's hand. There weren't many thoughts in Michiru's head at this point and the only thing she could really concentrate on was the unbearable pain that was spreading through her whole body. That pain made her wish for the darkness to fall upon her like it did throughout the night before, but she wasn't sleepy, nor was she blacking out. The gun in front of her face seemed like an equally good option. In the end, at that exact moment in life, there was nothing left for Michiru but pain.

An unsteady, shaky hand reached out and grabbed the gun. It buckled under the weight that Michiru didn't expect, but came back up and landed in her lap. She held the butt of the gun with both hands, the very end of which touched her knees, the barrel parallel to her torso. Michiru inspected the weapon she had never held in her hands before, put her chin on top of the barrel and pulled the trigger.

**x x x**

Daiki made his way inside the garage, put the pin in his cellphone and entered the underground room. He looked around in search of a thin silver laptop and breathed out in satisfaction once he found it. He then grabbed one of the external hard drives and plugged it into the server in case the information in that particular location needed to be accessed. He grabbed what he came there for and made his way out as carefully as he made it in, unnoticed by anyone. He made his way back to the large SUV and got behind the wheel, passing the sleeved laptop to his passenger.

"That's all we need?"

He nodded. "That's all the hardware we need, the software runs in the blonde head."

Sayuri chuckled. "I'm sure she'll appreciate getting her hands on work on Christmas Day."

"She doesn't care for Christmas, you know that. None of us do."

"That is truly astonishing." She turned to the street. "What should we have for dinner tonight?"

"I dunno, what do people eat for Christmas?"

"Why are you looking at me like I would know? Keep your eyes on the road," Sayuri mumbled.

A shrill of a phone caught their attention as they tried to figure out what kind of food they were in the mood for. Sayuri looked around and found an unfamiliar silver device under the dashboard.

"That would be the harpy," Daiki said, nodding at the new disposable phone he had recently acquired.

"How does she like that nickname of hers?" Sayuri caught the little device between two of her fingers.

"Why don't you ask her?" Daiki nodded at the phone that was still ringing.

"How do you like to be called a harpy?" Sayuri asked as a greeting.

_"What the fuck? Who… Sayuri? Wh...? Never mind." _

"Are you sure you still want to go there, she sounds really mad?" Sayuri looked up at the driver.

"She can probably hear you too." Daiki nodded at the uncovered speaker.  
_  
"Would you two stop your little shitty conversation and pay attention to me?"_ Haruka yelled on the other end of the line.

"What happened, dear?"

_"What happened is that Michiru said that we should have let her die, I gave her a gun and she put it straight to her chin and fired. What the fuck do I do now?"_

Sayuri stared at the phone in stunned silence as Daiki continued to drive like nothing happened. He faced his passenger when the wild yellow eyes landed on him and grimaced. "Put her on speaker."

Sayuri did as she was told, her hand shaking just ever so slightly.

"Kid."

_"Dai."_

"Kid, did you have enough brains to unload the gun before you handed it to her?"

Sayuri looked at him with some hope and held her breath for the answer.

_"Do you think I'm insane? Of course I unloaded the gun!" _

Sayuri breathed out in relief as Daiki threw her an amused glance. "Then why are you freaking out?"

_"I'm not freaking out, I've just had it. I'm done with her, I'm done with this babysitting shit, I'm done playing nice for some obscure cause."_

"Chill. We'll stop by and talk it over dinner. What would you like to eat?" Daiki asked evenly, ignoring the sided glance from Sayuri.

_"What the fuck do I care? I'm not even hungry."_

Daiki sighed. "You're just as helpful as Say. I'll see you shortly… and kid…"

_"What?"_

"Don't give the suicidal girl any more weapons."

_"Fuck you."_

Daiki laughed out loud as Haruka hung up the phone.

"What's so funny?" Sayuri quizzed.

"She is."

"Haruka?"

"No, Michiru." He looked at her like she was stupid. "Yes, Haruka."

"Why is she funny?"

"Because she's freaking out. Haruka never freaks out."

"She didn't really sound freaked out to me, she sounded very mad."

"Say, she always sounds mad. Mad or cold. Mad usually means she's feeling something." Daiki was talking from experience. "So right now she's mad because she's freaking out."

"I still don't see how that's funny, but then again, I'm not a part of your crazy family."

"Would you like to be?" He looked at her and she stared back, trying to see something in the black eyes, whether it was mirth or seriousness.

"Are you proposing to me?" Sayuri finally asked.

"Would you like me to?" He was still facing her and not the street.

"No." She turned back to face where they were going before he did. "I want to stay away from the two of you nutty people as far as I can. This is too much as it is." She referred to their getting dinner together and driving to Haruka's house which was what they were doing initially.

"See, I find a woman, I'm ready to make the offer, and she so bluntly denies me."

"Oh, stop it with the hurt act." Sayuri waved a hand at him. "You two always jump to extremes it's either all or nothing with you."

"Since when is that a bad thing?" Daiki wondered.

"Since we have an arrangement, stick to it," Sayuri bit back. "I'm in the mood for a steak."

Daiki smiled. Whether she knew it or not, he did love that woman.

**x x x**

A very angry Haruka opened the door for her guests an hour later. "Explain to me again why the fuck the two of you were coming here in the first place?"

"Good Evening to you too." Sayuri walked in, carrying a brown bag.

"Because we wanted to celebrate Christmas like a family!" Daiki announced in an overly jovial voice.

"It's Christmas Day, people have dinner on Christmas Eve, you moron," Haruka muttered. "Since when do we celebrate any holiday and since when do we have a family?"

Daiki sighed heavily as he pushed the blonde out of the way and set the two bags he was carrying on the kitchen counter.

"Where is Michiru?" Sayuri asked as she took her scarf and her coat off.

"Downstairs," Haruka replied evenly, peaking in one of the bags. The hour that had

passed was enough for her to restore her usual cool.

"You left a suicidal woman alone downstairs?" Sayuri raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I locked her in the empty room." She took plates out of a cupboard as though the discussion they were having was about the weather.

"You locked her in the dungeon?" Daiki smirked.

"The dungeon?" Sayuri looked from one relative to the other.

"It's just an empty room that was supposed to be an office, but then I changed my mind, so it's empty," Haruka explained as she took the plates, forks and knives to the coffee table.

"Why did you call it a dungeon?" Sayuri followed Daiki to the table with food.

"This whole house looked like a dungeon before she put her sorry ass of an excuse for a furniture collection in." Daiki sat on the pillow and pointed at the two chairs and other sparse furnishings.

"At least I don't have the shitty furniture you do." Haruka popped the tops off of the containers.

"No, you have extremely uncomfortable furniture of questionable desig,." Daiki retorted.

"I find Gehry's furniture quite appealing, although I like his architecture better." Sayuri grabbed one of the steaks with her fork.

"How so?" Haruka was loading some mashed potatoes on her plate.

"I did a study exchange program in med school, so I lived in Chicago for a semester. I loved the Millennium Park and found the Pritzker Pavilion fascinating," Sayuri explained as she meticulously cut her steak in small pieces.

"I'm starting to like youl" Haruka admitted as she grabbed a piece of stake for herself. "You guys didn't get any salad? What's wrong with you?" She looked at her visitors as they shrugged.

"Sayuri said she was in the mood for a steak, you said you weren't hungry. Deal with it."

Haruka scowled in return and took a great pleasure in cutting the meat in her plate.

**x x x**

Michiru was curled up in a ball on top of a sleeping bag. She wished she could just fall asleep, but her mind wouldn't shut down. Her mind kept racing ever since her finger pulled the trigger and she heard a click, but didn't get any relief. She didn't get any pain beyond the one she already had either, so she just stared at the gun before it was yanked out of her hands. There were no words exchanged after that, Haruka simply threw a towel over Michiru and then dragged her to an empty room, leaving her there. Michiru saw her come back in a couple of minutes and throw a sleeping bag along with some clothes on the floor, shut off the light and disappear behind the door again. Michiru just kept sitting on the floor that soon turned from cold to warm and wondered if it was another characteristic of the hell she was in. The water that was still left on her body dried on its own, while Michiru just stared at the door from the same position. Eventually she got up and slowly dressed herself in the provided clothes, unrolled the sleeping bag and curled on top of it. She didn't bother to turn the light on, she didn't bother to try and open the door. She just lay there on the sleeping bag on top of the heated floor, staring into nowhere. At some point she started to notice that her cheeks were wet from her tears, even though she didn't mean to cry. She didn't feel upset, she just felt empty. Devoid of any purpose in life and wishing for something to take her out of her misery. She would have preferred to do so with at least a moment of euphoria. She tried to do so by the only other option she had been given. She was still there, on the floor, in the darkness of a small room, all alone. Broken. Empty. Lifeless.

**x x x**

"So why do you have locks on your doors?"

"Come again?" Haruka turned towards Sayuri.

"You said that you locked Michiru in the room, why do you have locks on the doors? You live alone," Sayuri elaborated.

"Same reason why I have a gun - in case of emergency."

"Do you actually know how to use a gun?" Sayuri asked as she watched Daiki clean out the table.

"I do."

"She's pretty good at it too, so I wouldn't mess with her," Daiki warned.

"So would you shoot an apple from the top of my head?" Sayuri ignored the man.

Haruka cocked her head to the side, studying the woman in front of her. "I would. Would you like to try it?"

"Do you have apples?"

"Okay," Daiki sounded a bit exasperated. "You girls really need to unwind."

Haruka stared at him as he set a smaller brown bag on the table and took a bottle with green liquid out, followed by some other paraphernalia.

"Is that-" Haruka raised her wide blue eyes to Daiki.

"Absinthe? Yes, it is." He smiled.

"Are you out of your fucking mind? I'm dealing with a druggie and you bring drugs here?"

"_You_ are out of your fucking mind, it's a drink, not a drug."

"You have to burn it to make it!"

"Just because it looks like a quack, it aint a quack. Besides, you don't have to burn it, it's just a sexier way to do it." Daiki set three glasses on the table, followed by three shot glasses.

"I'm not touching that shit." Haruka leaned back, untangling her folded feet and bringing them in front of her.

"Oh yes you are. You need to unwind. You don't do drugs, you're not racing tonight, you don't customarily drink nearly enough, and I doubt you'll be fucking any time soon, so yes, you're touching that."

"Uh uh." She hugged her knees to her chest.

"Haruka, it's just a drink. It's simply stronger and more beautiful than many others," Sayuri reasoned.

"I'm gonna go check on my captive." Haruka got up and grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen before she walked down the stairs.

Daiki watched her go as he opened the bottle, put some of the green liquid in the three glasses and put a spoon with a slit in the middle on top of one of them. "And we sit, and we wait." He winked at Sayuri.

**x x x**

Michiru was blinded by the light right after the door opened. She covered her eyes with her hand and let them get used to the brightness gradually. Haruka appeared in her view as she removed her hand. They both looked at each other in silence before Haruka extended a glass of water and Michiru accepted it. "Do you need to use the bathroom?"

Michiru shook her head. What she needed was something to relieve the pain her body was in. "Can you give me something?" Hopeful blues looked at the stern ones.

"Something like what?"

"Something that will make me feel better?" Michiru licked her lips as she finished the water in the glass.

"The only thing that will make you feel better right now is more drugs and I'm not giving you that."

"Why?" Michiru felt the stupid tears stream down her cheeks again, despite her being angry, not upset.

"Because I'm a mean bitch," Haruka said sarcastically.

"No, you're not, you're the nicest person I've ever met." Michiru put a hand on Haruka's cheek in a slight caress.

Haruka's eyes narrowed into thin slits as she grabbed the hand that was on her cheek and forced it down. "It's not going to work. Paying compliments won't work. Offering sex won't work. Pleading won't work. Yelling won't work. Nothing will work. You're getting through this without any drugs, so stop trying."

The sweet expression on Michiru's face disappeared, replaced by an angry scowl.

"That's better. I like it when you don't lie, mermaid." Haruka let her go.

Michiru walked back to the pad and sat down, hugging her knees like Haruka had just minutes ago. "Get out of my room, I don't want to see you," she hissed.

"With pleasure." Haruka turned the light off and locked the door on her way out.

Michiru listened to the disappearing steps as she rocked back and forth, staring into the darkness and wondering what she could do to get out. Her mind was becoming clearer and clearer, and her mind knew that Haruka would not yield. However, her mind was concentrating on one thing and one thing only: she needed more. For that, she needed to get out.


	15. Fairy

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 15**

**Fairy**

Laughter filled the large space of the ground floor of Haruka's house. Three sets of eyes watched as a sugar cube melted in the orange-blue flame, only to be put down by the water from a shot glass at the very last moment, turning the green liquid into milky white.

"I think I can watch this forever." Haruka's face was as childish as ever.

"I knew you'd like it." Daiki had a smug expression on his face as he dipped another cube in Absinth and lit it up. It only took Haruka the first one to like the drink, this was their third round.

"So, Haruka, how old are you really?" Sayuri was laying on her back, propped up on her elbows.

Haruka grabbed the newly prepared drink and lied down on her side, enjoying the warm floor and caressing its smooth surface with her free hand. "I'm twenty-three."

Sayuri winced. Intoxication didn't diminish her ability to count, Haruka had been sixteen when they met, seventeen when she had been brought to Sayuri's ER. "Damn."

Haruka smiled with all her teeth. "How old are _you_?"

"Thirty-four."

"Really? You look a lot younger."

Sayuri laughed at the silly surprised expression on Haruka's face. "Thanks."

"Any time." Haruka raised her glass in a toast. Sayuri grabbed the drink Daiki extended to her and did the same.

"So, have you ever had sex with a woman?" Haruka looked up at Sayuri with a small smile at the corner of her mouth.

"I haven't and if you're asking me because you're horny, don't even think about it. I'm still waiting for your test results."

Haruka's smile disappeared which made Daiki laugh. "Kid, I see why you don't drink much."

She raised a questioning eyebrow.

"You don't hide emotions that well when you're under the influence."

"Really? Can you see the desire to kill the woman downstairs on my face?"

Daiki grabbed the last drink he prepared and sat down on the floor, leaning against the table. "No, I actually think you like her."

"Then alcohol makes you stupid because I definitely don't like her."

"Then why is she here?"

Haruka stared at him incredulously. "Did you not hear anything I said about her bitch of a mother?"

"I did." Daiki nodded his head before taking a sip. "That's a load of shit."

"Huh?"

"You've been threatened so many times I can't even count. You've been blackmailed by people who are a lot scarier than some rich bitch, no matter who she's married to. You chose to be burdened. I want to know why."

"I didn't feel like ridding the world of a talented violinist and her worthless mother?" Haruka sipped on her drink as well.

"Exactly. That shows that you care."

"But I don't."

"You're contradicting yourself."

"I don't want her dead, okay, fine, but I also want to be free of her. I want her to leave me alone, I don't like her."

"You don't like her anymore," Sayuri corrected.

Haruka put her head down on the pillow and watched the cloudy particles dance around her glass. "I liked her when I met her, she was amusing… Different." She dipped her index finger in the liquid and put it in her mouth, sucking the licorish-tasting substance. "Then she just turned out like the rest of them, only at the speed of lightening."

"That's not entirely true."

"Hmm?" Dark blue eyes looked at the black ones.

"You liked her until I put a gun to your face because you were obsessing about her, then you shut down and she started obsessing about you. That's when she became like the rest of them."

"That's right." Haruka's voice rose from her soft murmur. "It's your fucking fault!" She tried to kick him with one of her feet which he caught easily.

"I was just pointing out that you shut down your feelings."

"I've never had feelings for her. I mean there was the mind blowing sex, don't get me wrong, but there were no feelings." Haruka pulled her foot out of Daiki's grip.

"Liar."

"I don't lie."

"You lie to yourself a lot more than others, I'll give you that," Daiki replied.

"You think you know me?" Haruka sat up and brought her feet to her chest again.

"I do." He gestured at her with a glass. "Like right now you're taking a defensive posture because you know I'm gonna say something you're not gonna like."

Haruka pulled her knees closer and sipped on her drink. Daiki just smiled knowingly. "Kid, you still have humanity in you, let it out every once in a while, we're not all as fortunate. If you like her, then act on it, otherwise get rid of her and forget all about it. The gray area isn't working out for you."

Haruka shook her head. "Whatever I could ever feel for her was gone the moment I realized there's nothing in common between us. Then she made it only worse by her behavior. Right now I have no respect for her whatsoever and that's the worst." Her eyes locked with the black ones. "I can't have respect for someone who doesn't value their life."

"She didn't mean it, Haruka, it's the withdrawal. She buckled under the pressure," Sayuri replied. "She's just weak."

"That's the thing, she wasn't weak when I met her. She was calculating, a bit naive, but by no means weak. Then she became careless and unreasonable the moment she touched a controlled substance. She must have known she's predisposed to abusing it."

"Knowing what you may be is different from knowing who you are," Sayuri murmured.

"Why are you defending her? What the fuck do you even care?" Haruka stared at the other woman.

"Why, I'd take a side against you any day." Sayuri smiled in mirth.

"Bitch."

"Whore."

Daiki looked at the two smiling women and a smile appeared on his face at the realization that they just got past the strain in their relationship. It made him happy. "Kid -"

The smile disappeared from Haruka's face as she faced his stubborn expression. "I swear to fuck, Dai, if you bring the little bitch up one more time, I'll throw you out of the door."

They glared at each other before Daiki relented and watched her walk downstairs in silence.

"How long have you known her?"

He turned to Sayuri. "Ten years."

Sayuri raised a brow. "And you thought she was going to open up to you after three drinks?"

Daiki just kept to his silence. No, he didn't expect Haruka to open up after three drinks. He expected her to start to open up after _ten years_ and three drinks.

**x x x  
**

Haruka was standing with her back against the wall, listening to the silence behind the door to her right. The coolness of concrete felt soothing to the back of her hurting head. She hated it when people thought they knew her or tried to analyze her. Most of the time it was a simple annoyance because they had no idea who she really was and what she was about, so their assumptions had no real weight to them. It was different with Daiki, he did know her more than almost anyone else in this life. To Haruka, that still didn't give him the right to put his nose in her business. She may have entertained him for a while by sharing some of her thoughts, but there was no way she would ever let him in. She knew him too well to do that. She knew his true corrupt nature, his inability to feel for anyone but himself. Sure he cared for her, but it was more of a pride thing, not love. He tamed the wild teenager from the streets, he did this out of curiosity, not love. It was a wild coincidence that they were related, but that didn't mean much to either of them. Haruka had never had family before and didn't know how to have one, Daiki had a family, but his family was the determinant factor in Daiki's inability to have real feelings for others. He had been there through the years of fighting and blame, the years that resulted in death of two people he had liked. He was fourteen when that had happened and it killed the last true feelings he had. Well, that wasn't entirely correct. That killed the last good true feeling he had in his life. It gave birth to the hate he felt against his parents and growing disregard towards everybody else. His last hope was to rid himself of the darkness of his family and make the world better. That was how he ended up going to the police academy. Then again, he was disillusioned quickly and the darkness he tried to get out of just became thicker, enveloping him from the inside.

Haruka knew that Daiki's only righteous act in life was taking her to the hospital and then taking her home. She knew he would protect her life at any cost, except that she doubted he would risk his life for anyone, herself included. Haruka owed her life to him, so she didn't have a problem risking her own for his. That was the extent to which she cared. She didn't mind that he cared less than she did in that sense, he already fulfilled that duty in her eyes.

Haruka let a deep sigh out, letting her anger dissolve, as the throbbing in her head was relieved by the coldness of the concrete. It was time to let Michiru out. She didn't particularly like locking her in the room, primarily because it added to her own pain - she had to let her out to use the bathroom and so on, but she really didn't want someone to commit suicide in her house. Her house was too precious to her for that.

Haruka separated herself from the wall, unlocked the door and slowly pushed it open. She stepped into the darkness and extended her hand to flip the lights on when her head suddenly met the warm floor. Her hand extended in quick reflex and grabbed a slim ankle. Haruka fought to stay conscious as the stars started to dance in front of her eyes, her hand deathly gripping on a now wriggling leg. Haruka won and sat up as the nauseating feeling subsided. Michiru's fists were hitting her as the smaller woman tried to balance herself on one leg. Haruka's prior aggravation came back with a vengeance, growing into rage. She pulled on the leg and landed Michiru in her lap, quickly turning the bony back to herself and using her free hand for a choke hold.

"I see you've got my point across, mermaid." She tightened her hold as Michiru tried to wriggle herself free. "I will choke you if you don't stop."

Haruka felt Michiru still before the smaller woman continued with even more force. "Do it. Kill me or let me go."

Haruka just laughed out loud. She had to give it to Michiru, the girl actually put her flat to the ground. Haruka, of course, wasn't expecting someone to grab both of her legs as she walked in, so she didn't even have time to prevent the fall. She did, however, have reflexes that were developed and trained her whole life, Michiru was no match for her.

"So, how should I punish you for making my fucking headache worse?" Haruka pretended to think. "Oh, I know. Solitude. I'm going to leave you here, on your own, to your own thoughts and forget that you even exist. Yeah, that sounds great. You can sit here and brew on your worthless existence, knowing that there is nothing you can do to get out of it. Nothing you can do to make your pain go away. I will leave you to the hell you put yourself in. And not give a shit." She got up, making Michiru get up with her, still holding the long neck in the crook of her elbow. Haruka walked to the room next door, one that housed all utilities, and grabbed a plastic bucket. They both made their way back inside the dark room, were Haruka let go of the smaller woman and shoved her in. She looked at the simple bucket in thought before ripping the handle out, lest Michiru came up with ways to use that. She threw the bucket in the direction of the woman and walked out, locking the door.

Haruka briskly made her way upstairs to the car that always had the keys and the wallet in it. She didn't even bother to look at the two people still sitting in her living room. She turned as she was about to pass the pane of glass.

"Let yourselves out when you're done and don't forget to set the alarm." She pressed the garage door and got in the car, pulling out with a gust of air.

Sayuri's objection to Haruka's driving intoxicated still hadn't made it out of her mouth as the garage door came down to the floor.

**x x x  
**

Michiru stared at the closed door. The lights were still off, but her eyes had long adjusted to the darkness, so she could see the outline of the door, highlighted by the moonlight streaming through the windows on the opposite side of the hallway. The ocean blue eyes were narrowed, an angry expression on Michiru's face. She could not believe she failed.

Ever since Haruka left last time, Michiru had been trying to figure out what she could do to get out. She decided to trip the blonde and then just run as fast as she could, hoping that she made it upstairs and out of the front door before Haruka got up. She had been laying down, trying to relax her hurting body in order to gain strength. When she heard the soft footsteps she wasn't anywhere near the door, but the door didn't open. She made her way to it and sat on the floor, hands outstretched. She knew that Haruka would not see her because she would need a moment to get her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The silence had stretched and Michiru even started to wonder if Haruka was going to come in, but then she heard a sigh and the door opened. Michiru went straight for the long legs and yanked them with all the power her body would exert.

She felt her heart summersault as the blonde landed on the floor, but her happiness was short-lived as her ankle was caught by a strong hand on her way out. Michiru heard a soft thud that Haruka's head made when it met the concrete, so she was hoping that the blonde would pass out. No such luck, of course. The death grip would not loosen, so Michiru tried to balance herself as she started to hit the horizontal body while wriggling her leg. To Michiru's greatest displeasure, Haruka sat up and in one swift move twisted Michiru's leg in a way that put her body in Haruka's lap. The next moment Michiru felt like she was suffocating, so she stilled completely. When she heard Haruka's words, she felt like she was just given another opportunity. Her escape clearly failed, but the darkness would still take care of her. So Michiru tried to get out of the hold, agitating the blonde.

The result of all this was clearly not what Michiru envisioned. The part of her brain that was clearing up was pissed at the idea of using the bucket, while a much larger part of her brain, the one that was affected by the feelings throughout her body, was pissed by the fact that she was still there, still helpless against the pain. Haruka's threat about solitude hit home, which only made Michiru madder. The woman was enjoying it! She was purposefully torturing Michiru, while claiming that she didn't care either way.

Michiru was still staring at the door, fuming, when the first wave of nausea reached her. She didn't hesitate as she dove down and picked up the plastic bucket, hugging it to herself.

**x x x  
**

Haruka was near her limit. She had a shitty couple of days, to say the least, and she had no way to externalize everything she felt up until this point. Right now, right at this moment, she was letting everything out. She was in her own world as the one everyone else existed in flew by outside of the window. She revved the engine and left the lights of Tokyo behind.

It was just too much. She didn't like to be cornered. Not by someone who tried to threaten her, not by someone who tried to get to the bottom of her soul. She definitely did not like being attacked in her own house, almost as much as she didn't like the other two. Haruka took the first ramp to the expressway and floored the accelerator.

**x x x  
**

Michiru felt like she had been locked in that room for days. It was hard to tell what time of the day it was, despite the changing intensity of the light around the door. All Michiru knew was that she spent that whole time hugging the bucket that reeked of her own vile, while drenched in cold sweat. She breathed out in relief when the door finally opened. Her anger was long gone, replaced by utter helplessness.

She raised her eyes, expecting to see a tall angry blonde, but it wasn't her. Michiru didn't know the woman in the doorway, although she had a distinct feeling that she had seen her before. Michiru watched as the woman wrinkled her nose before covering the lower half of her face with the palm of her hand. She searched for the light switch and the room became painfully bright as she flipped it on.

"Go to the bathroom." Her voice was soft, but authoritative. Michiru didn't need to hear it twice, though, the bucket had been making her more nauseous than she was because of its content. She slowly got up and unsurely made her way towards the bathroom. A part of her was concerned because the woman followed her, depriving Michiru of any privacy, but overall Michiru decided not to care. She washed her mouth thoroughly before slumping down on the toilet. The woman was just standing there, by the door frame, her hands wrapped in front of her chest.

"Who are you?" Michiru finally asked.

"Abe Sayuri. I'm a doctor." Sayuri watched the miserable woman who bolted to the sink as another wave of nausea hit her.

"How many days has she kept me in there for?" Michiru asked as she turned the water on.

"Days?" Sayuri sweatdropped. "It's been seven hours."

"What?" Michiru looked at the doctor.

Both Sayuri and Daiki stayed at the house after Haruka had run off. They primarily talked and drank into the early hours of the morning, until both fell asleep. Sayuri woke up first and decided to check on her patient, feeling sorry for her, despite seeing reason in Haruka's actions. "She's only been gone for seven hours."

"What do you mean gone?" Michiru eyed the shower cabin where a sponge and the bottle of soap were still sitting on the floor.

"Venting. I'm sure you know why a lot better than I do." Sayuri followed Michiru's gaze. "You should take a shower, it will be good for you."

Once again Michiru didn't argue. She stepped in and let the warm water wash away the sweat. She blocked all the thoughts of what happened last time she was in that small space as she caressed her aching body with a soft soapy sponge. It felt divine. That divine feeling went away as soon as she shut the water off and felt her stomach contract in another oncoming wave.

It drained the last of her strength. She was sitting on the floor, her forehead on the cold porcelain bowl and all she wanted to do was climb to the soft-looking green rug and curl on it. Even sitting was exhausting.

Sayuri stepped out of the bathroom, knowing that Michiru was too weak to do anything to herself at that point, so the older woman went on to the unpleasant task of cleaning out the dungeon. After she was done, she wandered into Haruka's bedroom and found an open suitcase on the floor. She assumed that the clothes belonged to the woman in the bathroom, so she picked out something comfortable. She came back to the bathroom and found Michiru curled up on the rug, asleep. Sayuri placed the clothes next to the sleeping form and made her way upstairs.

The sound of television reached her ears as she neared the ground level. She looked up and found Daiki watching the large screen from the comfort of one of the chairs with amusement.

"What are you doing?"

He looked at her momentarily before bringing his eyes back to the screen. "Watching Haruka vent."

"What?" Sayuri walked up and found herself staring at the breaking news on the television screen.

**x x x  
**

"Fuck!"

Haruka watched as one of the trucks in a two-lane highway ahead of her turned into the left lane, blocking her way. She swerved to the right, but the other monster was still there. Her eyes dashed to the rearview mirror where the amount of blinking lights could have outdone any Christmas tree. Moreover, now that she was forced to slow down by the two trucks ahead of her, those lights were closing the distance. Her mind wildly searched for a solution as her eyes returned to the road ahead. Then they narrowed. They were coming to a curve and all she hoped for was a small chance. The truck in the left lane moved slightly to the left as the gravity of a right turn forced the inexperienced driver who did not calculate his own speed to do so. Haruka pressed the gas pedal into the floor and took her chance without giving it any other thought.

She had been driving for hours, as far away as she could from the city, from all her problems. Naturally, to do so she needed speed, which was fine on an empty highway of the night, but as cars started to appear in the morning commute, she found herself dodging between the slower vehicles. It didn't take long before she saw the first set of blinking lights behind her, and without any hesitation sped up instead of slowing down. Getting caught would only make her day worse. She had been successful in avoiding them so far, but she knew that she would not be able to go on for long. Not only did the amount of police cars following her increased, but there were helicopters in the air. Even a news helicopter made it there at this point.

She held her breath as the Enzo entered the narrow space between two menacing trucks. She wondered if her car was low enough to get under one of the containers to her sides, but figured that she might lose the roof in the process, which wasn't an option in her book. She got out of the blind spot of both trucks and watched as the driver on her left appeared in his side mirror. She couldn't see the driver on her right, but she definitely noticed the moment when the virtually nonexistent space between the Enzo and the container started to disappear. She looked at the other driver, noticing him watching his mirror in horror and swerved to the left, eliminating the distance between her and the beast. Right as the Enzo went partially under the trailer, but not deep enough to touch the rails that supported the container in place, the driver swerved further to the left, sending the trailer perpendicular to the road in the process. The back of the turning trailer hit the back of the trailer on the right, making both dance around the speedway before they landed on their sides in a nasty crash. Haruka's foot was firmly on the pedal that was pressed into the floor as she tried to escape the impact of the fast-approaching sliding containers.

Haruka purposefully did not look behind herself as she first sound of the crash reached her ears. She had never killed anyone in her life. Not until today. And the day was not over yet, neither was the chase. The helicopters were still there and if getting caught before was not an option, it sure as hell was not an option now. It was time to use the back exit.

Haruka dove left towards the first exit ramp off of Hanshin Expressway and drove the streets in search of a parking structure. This was not the time for self-analysis. Her survival mode kicked in after she first saw the police car behind her and there was no consideration for what was around her anymore, no consideration for others… only herself. She entered an underground parking garage and pressed a recessed button in the dashboard. Haruka had always been reluctant to make any changes to the Enzo, it needed no performance enhancements in her view, but she did have to use caution since it was the only car she had and she didn't intend to lose it. After a great deal of research and some good scheming between her and Hiro, the Enzo was equipped with a few 'in case of emergency' features in case she was ever caught. Today was the day to use them.

The license plates slid down under the undercarriage as another set was put in place by a belt-driven mechanism. Haruka had no doubt that her regular plates had been traced by now and that she would never use them again. She drifted down the parking structure hoping that she would find what she needed. She finally did in the far corner of the lower level. Haruka pulled into the empty spot, killed her engine and jumped out of the car, grabbing the hose and turning on the water to its maximum. She brought the nozzle as close to the surface of the car as she could, using the forceful stream of water to scrape the top layer of the paint. It was just a matter of making the first dent, after that the concrete floor was covered in a sea of gray paint, which looked like thick dirt coming off of the white Enzo Ferrari.

Haruka made her way all around, hoping that she had enough time before the police cars entered the structure. She had no doubt that her escape didn't go unnoticed by the air surveillance, which was confirmed as she heard the approaching sirens. She quickly shut off the water, jumped in the driver's seat and pulled out towards the exit. She quickly glanced at what she was wearing. She put on a pair of jeans and a shirt over her tank top after she talked to Daiki on the phone. Her coat was resting in the passenger seat, she only put it on when she got out to refuel. She moved her left hand in the position to control the wheel and the paddles at the same time, while using her right to unbutton her shirt, stripping it off completely as the Enzo pulled out on the ground level. As soon as her eyes fell on the light beyond the square exit, she found herself surrounded by the police cars. Haruka stopped the Enzo and waited.

A couple of police cars moved down, while some other ones moved up the ramp, surely to check other levels. A police officer came out of the car that was right in front of her and approached her window as his partner checked the plates. "Good Morning, license and registration please."

Haruka cocked an eyebrow at him from behind the window she lowered as he approached. "Did I do anything wrong, officer?"

He looked at her void of any expression before relenting and giving her an explanation. "We are in pursuit of a suspect driving a car matching your description."

"I beg you pardon?" Haruka gave her best shocked expression. "My car has been in this parking structure all night." She did hand him the documents from the glove compartment nonetheless.

"Give me a moment." He took the papers, not bothering to respond to her previous remark and walked back to his car. Haruka watched as the two men debated something before the same officer made his way back.

"Could you step out of the vehicle, Tamura-san."

"Of course." Haruka opened the door and did just that, watching down at the short stocky man as she came to her full height. His gaze that lingered over her chest void of bra did not escape her as she scoffed internally. _'Men. Put a pair of perky nipples in your face and wrap you around a finger.' _She straightened the bottom of her white tank top, pretending to lower her eyes while watching him from underneath her long lashes. "Is there anything wrong?"

"Is there a particular reason your car is dripping wet?"

"But of course, I just washed it." Haruka gave him a dumbfounded look. "It's such a beautiful sunny day." She put her hand on top of the roof, dragging her finger sensually along its edge. "White looks stunning in the sunshine, wouldn't you say?"

The man gulped before lowering his eyes and mumbling his agreement. He had nothing on her. It was bizarre to run into an Enzo Ferrari in the parking structure where the driver from the road rage chase was reported to disappear, but that driver was behind a wheel of a dark gray car, with different license plates and the car was registered to one Takeuchi Hayate. The car he was standing next to was white and registered to Tamura Hisako, who was definitely not a man. The officer blushed at his own thoughts before apologizing to the woman in front of him and handing her documents back to her.

Haruka gave him a blinding smile as she got back in the car and waited for the police cruiser blocking her way to move out in pursuit of… her. Her smile grew even wider as she slowly passed the emergency vehicles on her way out. Yes, the sun did play wonderfully in the hood of her car. White wasn't her favorite color, but neither was gray. Both worked in perfect coordination for her purposes. She passed a few blocks before turning into a gas station. She would take a shorter way back to Tokyo, abiding the speed limit. It should take her no more than six hours.


	16. Breaking Point

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 16**

**Breaking Point**

Michiru was sitting on the floor of the upstairs bathroom. Sayuri made her get upstairs once she woke up, bringing her to a half-bath that was adjoined to the garage on the ground level. The door was open and Michiru could see both Daiki and Sayuri from her position. Daiki's back was turned to her as he watched the television, Sayuri was sitting sideways, watching both the TV and the woman in the bathroom.

Hours had passed since the horrible crash and the news still reported on what had happened, despite the absence of any updates. Michiru was too weak to catch on to what was going on, all she knew was that Demon and the woman doctor were in Haruka's house for some odd reason, while Haruka was gone. She tried to listen to the quiet conversation between the two, but was constantly interrupted by her own body. Sayuri made Michiru come upstairs so that she could watch her at the same time as provide her with some amenities, water and food. Michiru was grateful for water, but found that she was unable to hold any food in, so she gave up on that idea.

"When do you think she will get back?"

Daiki turned to look at Sayuri. "No fucking clue." He got up and walked to the fridge, which was absolutely empty, save the five water bottles. "You'd think that she actually has food in this house." He shut the door and walked back to the chair. They had finished the leftovers from the dinner the night before and his stomach was starting to growl.

"You can go get food, I'll stay here," Sayuri offered.

"Neither of us has to stay, we could just go somewhere together," Daiki returned.

Sayuri glanced to her left. "I don't want to leave her alone."

"Just put her back, who gives a shit?" Daiki got up and towered over Sayuri.

"I do," she replied simply. "She's my patient."

"Just because you did us a favor by attending to her, she's not your patient."

Sayuri cocked a brow at his loss of temper. "I saved her life, that makes her my patient."

"Whatever. Haruka brought her in, she should be Haruka's fucking problem, not ours."

"No one is holding you here, Sanu. You may leave any moment." Sayuri's cold voice and unamused expression coupled with the way she addressed him signaled to Daiki that he had gone as far as he would. He was about to turn around and do just as she suggested when the garage door opened and they both watched a white Enzo pull in.

"What the fuck?" Daiki's frustration was replaced by surprise.

Haruka stepped out of the car, walked around and took three bags out of the passenger side. She walked past the pane of glass and cocked her eyebrow. "What are you two losers still doing here?"

She kicked her shoes off and placed the bags on top of the coffee table.

"What the fuck happened?" Daiki nodded at the car.

"I ran into a bit of a problem." Haruka untied the plastic ties on the bags and pulled out food containers. "Sushi anyone?"

"Yes, we have seen your problem." Sayuri raised her finger at the television.

Haruka's smirk fell off of her face as she was met with the replay of the accident accompanied by reporter's words that she completely drowned out. She had been avoiding admitting to the fact that the crash happened since she left Osaka, which was easy while she was driving. She was no longer driving and the evidence of what she had done was right in front of her.

"Did someone say sushi?"

Haruka turned to the weak voice behind her back and saw Michiru standing in the bathroom door, supporting herself against the frame. Haruka's features darkened before she reached the smaller woman and grabbed her by the arm. "What the fuck are you doing here?" She turned to Daiki and Sayuri. "What the fuck is she doing here?"

"She needs to be in the bathroom, Haruka. You can't just hold her locked in a room." Sayuri explained evenly. "I don't think she will harm herself."

"The fuck she won't. She was looking forward to me suffocating her to death not even fifteen hours ago. Who the fuck gave you the right to let her out?" Cold grays stared at the yellow eyes.

"It's inhumane." Sayuri held the gaze.

"I decide what I do with her. She's of no concern to you." Haruka started walking towards the steps, dragging Michiru with her. One painful descent down the stairs later Michiru was back in the room, the sleeping bag and the bucket her only accommodations.

**x x x  
**

Haruka briskly walked back up and stumbled into the kitchen, where she poured herself a glass of water. She turned around and was met with disapproval written all over Sayuri's face. "What?" Haruka asked as she pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger.

"Haruka, I can give her medicine to make the process go smoother, it's the pain that makes her want to either score or die. Depression is also a symptom."

"No. Going cold turkey will take all the shit our of her system a lot faster."

Sayuri considered the blonde. "That is true sometimes, but you don't know how much faster and if it's even worth it. She's miserable, she's making you miserable and I'm not sure if she just passed the acute stage."

Haruka set the glass down on the counter and locked her eyes with the doctor. "I know, Say, don't you think I know that? I've seen enough shit in my life, I've seen enough people like her."

"You've seen them, you haven't been through the process of helping them," Sayuri replied gently.

"I want this over as soon as possible. If I have to keep her in that room the whole week, then be it."

Sayuri shook her head. "A week is what the acute phase usually takes. Since I gave her the antagonist when she overdosed, it made it go by faster, but it's nowhere near the end. The secondary phase will last at least a month, maybe more. There are ways to decrease that with medication."

"No. She is getting over it by herself." Haruka raised her chin stubbornly.

"Sayuri, you won't change her mind." Daiki finally offered some input from where he was enjoying the sushi Haruka brought.

Sayuri sighed. "Fine, she's your pain, not mine; but she still needs water and food."

Haruka seemed to consider something before pulling out a plastic bottle of water from the otherwise empty fridge, followed by a few napkins from a drawer. She walked up to the table and grabbed an assortment of sushi, piling it on the napkins in her hand. Sayuri watched as Haruka got up with a little pile of food in her hands and a bottle held between Haruka's arm and her side, and made her way downstairs. She shook her head in despair, but knew that whatever else she tried would be a lost cause.

**x x x  
**

Haruka set the laptop left behind by her visitors down and rubbed her tired eyes. It was Wednesday and she didn't have much time to put into the preparation of this Friday's events, so one of the other Wings had to handle it. She just finished going over the details that were sent to her. She looked at the clock and noticed that it was only nine at night, Sayuri and Daiki had left at five. Haruka was drained of all energy, which may have had something to do with not sleeping since Michiru had been brought to her house. The first two nights she had been keeping an eye on the detoxing woman, the third she had spent drinking with Sayuri and Daiki before escaping and driving like a mad woman that she was. Exhaustion was finally catching up with her. She sighed, closed the lid on the computer and made her way downstairs.

She checked on Michiru, who completely ignored her presence. It was the latest game. Ever since Haruka had thrown her back into the room, Michiru just acted like the blonde was not even there. Little did Haruka know that Michiru did so because she was so mad that she wanted to kill Haruka. She was silently brewing on her anger, delaying the moment when she finally blew up.

Haruka made her way to the bedroom and sighed contently as her head hit the pillow. This was what she needed right now; she needed to get away from reality and be carried away to the land of dreams, disposing of the ugly world she lived in. Haruka closed her eyes, a small smile playing across her features.

**x x x  
**

Beads of sweat covered her body. Her hair was wet, sticking to her face contorted in pain. She was breathing heavily, her chest rising in sharp intakes of breath. Her hands were moving violently as she kept tossing and turning, trying to push the pain away in her sleep. She finally sat upright, a silent scream on her open lips as the wild blue eyes stared into the darkness. Her right hand instinctively came over her chest, taking in the fast pace of her heart, before she pulled her legs up and hid her face in both of her hands, resting her forearms on her knees. She didn't even notice as she started rocking back and forth gently, trying to make the unbearable pain subside, even though she knew that the motion would do no such thing.

Her hands twitched as she felt the hot tears stream down the palms of her hands, mixing with the sweat and letting everything she was trying to avoid admitting to out. Her whole body trembled as the silent sobs rocked her slim form, her hands still hiding her face from the world. She was no longer the cold-blooded gang member that everyone knew her as, she was a little girl that just woke up from a nightmare that hadn't been a pigment of her imagination. She was a girl that just woke up screaming after her mind replayed the events of the previous morning in her sleep. Haruka was broken by the notion that she was the cause of death of three people and countless injuries to others. She could hide that fact from the world, could hide that from Sayuri and Daiki. She could not hide it from herself, not in the confines of her bedroom.

She finally let go of her face and opened her eyes, but the images would not go away. The trailers sliding down the highway. Sparks flying. Police cars crashing into the obstacles that were not meant to be in their way. Cars burning.

Haruka shut her eyes closed again, but the tears still found their way through. She didn't make a noise, she never did. She had learned that when she was a child; both to hide her tears and to be quiet when they did spill over. Her throat was sore from the sobs that came out without sound, the air brushing her passageways on its way out. She was shaking uncontrollably, but she didn't even notice. All she knew was that today she killed three people. She had never killed anyone before, injured, yes, but not killed. She had never intended to kill anyone, she just did what she could to escape, but the result was the same: she caused the crash, she was responsible. And she didn't know how she would live with that.

**x x x  
**

Michiru noticed that the blonde was in the shittiest disposition Michiru has ever seen her in when Haruka opened the door the next morning. That was the catalyst to everything Michiru herself held inside, so it resulted in the two yelling at each other within seconds, followed by a brief visit to the bathroom and slammed doors. Once Michiru was left alone in the room again, she flipped the lights on and did her best to annoy the woman she currently hated by banging on the door and yelling. Michiru was so frustrated that she didn't care if she only made her own circumstances worse. She was still in pain and Haruka was making her feel worse, so Michiru tried to return the favor.

**x x x  
**

Haruka has had it. She had been on the edge for the past week, trying to deal with the unbearable burden, but she has had it. Michiru went out of her way to make Haruka as miserable as she herself was and it worked, coupled with Haruka's sleepless nights.

Haruka put her hands over her ears at another piercing scream the violinist exerted. She was sitting on the stairs with her head between her legs, thinking what has ever possessed her to help someone she now openly hated. Whatever it was, it was no longer there and all Haruka wanted was for her hell to go away. Another long string of loud curses directed at the blonde was supplemented by banging on the door.

Haruka got up abruptly and walked to her bedroom. She pushed a panel in the wall and a small compartment opened. She took the gun out, checked that it was loaded, though she knew that it was, and walked towards the origin of the sound.

Michiru jumped away from the door as it swung open. Haruka didn't skip a heartbeat as she released the safety and walked to the little fury. The fact that Haruka had not a trace of emotion in her features finally registered in Michiru's mind as her eyes seemed to take the blonde's approach in slow motion. Haruka walked up and put the cold barrel of her beloved Beretta 9000S against Michiru's left temple.

"Wh-what are y-y-you d-d-doing?" Michiru stuttered.

"I'm taking us both out of misery. You wanted to die, I was stupid enough to not let you do so. I'm about to fix that mistake." Haruka's voice was even, controlled, void even of anger. Michiru swallowed, her mind processing a million of different things in one second. It was finally here, she wiould get her release. She wouldl no longer have to suffer, no longer have to bear with this existence. An almost peaceful, accepting sigh escaped her as she willed her body to stop trembling. She closed her eyes to be welcomed by the darkness. However, what met her beyond the cover of her eyelids was a slideshow of the moments of her life. Moments that mattered before she gave up. She saw herself in her childhood, surrounded by her loving parents. She saw her caring father, her sober caring father. She saw her mother's smiling loving face. She saw waves hitting a shore accompanied by the sound of a violin. The music teased her ears as the progression of images continued in its escalating tune. She saw herself kissing her date on the doorstep of her family house, saw the images of the night when she lost her virginity. She saw faces of all the people she cared about; they kept flashing in front of her eyes as violin's tempo increased in her mind. She opened her eyes wide at the peak and stared at the cold gray orbs.

Haruka's index finger was lingering over the trigger. All she had to do was pull it and she was ready to do so when she saw the acceptance and the serenity in the smaller woman's features, followed by a sigh. Then, after a moment that seemed to stretch over a millennia, Michiru closed her eyes, only to open them back seconds later as Haruka's finger touched the trigger, but before she actually pulled it.

What Haruka saw in those ocean blue eyes when they opened was the emotion she herself took years to work out of her system. That emotion, so clear in the wide eyes made Haruka smile and feel more connected to the woman in front of her than she had ever felt before. The emotion in the ocean blue eyes was fear. Pure, raw, animal fear.

Haruka let her hand drop to her side, the offending barrel pointing towards the floor. They stared at each other in silence, until Michiru gathered the courage to speak up, her eyes narrowing. "Y-you were bluffing?" she finally mumbled, unsure if she was happy or mad.

Haruka raised her hand back up and shot at the door, taking the lock out and making Michiru jump, without breaking the eye contact.

"Value your life as much as you did a minute ago and I'll never raise a gun at you again." She put the safety back on before breaking the eye contact and retreating back to her bedroom.

**x x x  
**

Michiru just stood there, glued to the floor, staring at the hole in the open door, where the lock used to be. The shaking of her body finally took her out of her shock, followed by a gagging sensation. Michiru's legs moved automatically towards the bathroom.

She came out some time later and cautiously approached the open door to the blonde's bedroom. She saw Haruka sitting on the edge of the bed, her elbows on her knees, still holding the menacing gun in her right hand, her forehead resting against the length of its barrel. Michiru took in a shallow breath before she spoke: "You're not going to use that, right?"

Haruka's head turned slowly towards the door, taking the sight of a disheveled woman in. "What does it matter to you?"

Michiru considered the question. It was asked without any feeling to it, so she didn't know if Haruka even cared about the answer she got. Michiru thought back to the day almost a week ago when she sat in the shower cabin, holding that same gun and snorted at the irony of life. She went from wanting to kill herself to wanting to be alive in a week and the realization of how important her own life was to her only hit the violinist on the head a few minutes ago. Was she someone who had a right to even talk about the value of life? So far she was failing miserably with her own. Then there was the other side of the question: what did it matter to Michiru if Haruka per se was alive. She obsessed about the woman, then she grew to hate her, now… she didn't even know what she felt now, she was too shaken up by everything. Did she want Haruka dead? She thought she did just an hour ago, but did she truly mean it? No, she didn't.

Haruka watched as Michiru seemed to have an internal conversation with herself. Haruka was nowhere near getting out of her own hell, but the green-haired fury who only made things worse seemed to come to her senses, at least in comparison to the creature Haruka dealt with for the past week. Haruka was at the point when she really didn't give a damn about what happened next. Not to say that she was going to use that gun on herself, it was simply cooling her hot head down. She despised people who didn't value their life, she despised them ever since she learned of her parent's death. Haruka herself would never do that, she was too strong for that, no matter how many rings of inferno she was slipping through on the inside. The abyss would never take her deep enough for her to want to end her life. She had been through those depths and she always pulled out; she would do the same this time.

"I don't want you to die."

Haruka came out of her own thoughts at the soft admission. "That didn't really answer my question."

Michiru shrugged. "That's the only answer I can give."

Haruka chuckled and turned her face back to the floor, lowering her hand and looking at the gun that her car used to be pained after. "What is the point of taking your life if all you do is move from one hell to another, mermaid?" Haruka looked up at the ocean blues before she got up and put the gun away. "For all we know, the one beyond this realm is only worse."

Michiru watched in silence as Haruka approached, taking the meaning of her words in. _'Why is she in hell?'_

"You should take a shower." Haruka wrinkled her nose as she passed the smaller woman and continued in the direction of the stairs.

"You are not going to watch me?" Michiru turned in surprise.

"No, there are other things that arouse me more."

Michiru had the decency to blush at the blonde's distortion of her words. "I meant -"

Haruka paused by the stairs, giving her another look. "I know what you meant, Michiru. I only watched you so you wouldn't harm yourself. I think we're beyond that, so you can do whatever the fuck you want." Haruka started to walk up the stairs, but paused again, looking down. "But you can't leave. I still need your mother to do her end of the bargain."

Michiru watched as the racer disappeared upstairs, puzzled at the words. Haruka was indifferent until she swore, why did she swear? Was she mad and just not showing it? Michiru was very confused, but decided to take the opportunity and clean herself up. Maybe she could force herself to eat something after as well. She had been feeling better in the past few days, though the nausea was still present. The aches and pains were slowly going away, though, and it made her feel much better.

**x x x  
**

Haruka was sitting in the dark, watching the lights above the bay and listening to the sound of the running water. She had no idea what to do now. She was completely and utterly lost for the first time in a very long time and she couldn't even sort through her feelings because there was a stranger in the house. She was extremely vulnerable right now, still on edge, and she usually avoided all human contact when that happened. Until she resolved her issues with herself. By herself.

The presence of another human being almost drove her to commit murder, even though that was primarily because of the anger Haruka felt towards the little fury, it didn't have anything to do with the actual reason for her current state. The actual reason was the guilt that kept eating away at her, it was that side of humanity Daiki mentioned she still had left in her that was the problem. Haruka was hurting because of what she had done and there was nothing she could do to numb that pain.

She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice as the water was turned off, didn't notice the soft steps, did not notice the ocean blue eyes that grew from indifferent to concerned as they watched Haruka just sitting there in silence.

**x x x  
**

Michiru walked out of the bedroom feeling a million times better than she had in months. She was clean, her teeth were finally brushed, her breath no longer reeked of her own vile, and she was wearing clean clothes. She assumed her mother or someone else brought her clothes there as she found a suitcase on the floor of Haruka's bedroom. Michiru put a hand through her freshly brushed damp hair, enjoying the feeling of the long strands, as she made her way up the stairs. It was completely dark and she even thought that Haruka may have left, but then she saw her.

She was sitting in one of the two chairs, her feet resting on top of the coffee table, her legs crossed. Her hands rested on the armrests, the back of her head against the back of the chair. Her eyes were open and they seemingly looked towards the window. What made Michiru stop in her tracks wasn't the fact that Haruka didn't notice her appearance, it was the pain in her features. When Michiru met Haruka, the blonde had always been flirtatious, funny, coy, rarely serious. Then Michiru met the angry Haruka, the one that scowled, yelled, and snorted. In the past week Michiru met the ugly side of Haruka, the one that could be violent and cold or violent and mad. What Michiru had never seen before was vulnerable Haruka and that was exactly what was in front of her now. It was a woman who was openly hurting.

Michiru didn't know the reason for the pain in the blonde's features and the torment she would probably see in her eyes, but for the fact that they were obscured by the darkness. Then again, Michiru knew virtually nothing about the blonde, despite putting so much time and effort in finding out as much about her as she could.

Michiru didn't know what to do. She was afraid to approach the blonde, she had a feeling that Haruka would just hide everything and may simply get mad again, but at the same time she felt like she was drawn to the statuesque figure. After debating with herself for a little while, Michiru decided to take a seat in the only other chair next to the coffee table.

**x x x  
**

Haruka stiffened as she finally registered the presence of another person in the room. She felt more than saw Michiru walk up and take a seat next to her, waiting for some stupid inquiry into her feelings which Michiru undoubtedly got a glimpse of. Haruka's features hardened, her eyes still on the bay, but the questions never came. The two just sat in complete silence, watching the lights.

"You can leave."

"What?" Michiru finally turned to face the blonde who spoke quietly, unsure if she misheard Haruka.

"You can go, Michiru, I'm not gonna hold you hostage anymore."

"But I thought you said I couldn't just an hour ago."

Haruka scoffed. "A lot can happen in an hour. Just take this opportunity and run."

Michiru's heart summersaulted. She was free to go, she could go back to her family, live her life, or… she could call one of her friends and score some relief from the pain that was still within her. Michiru's initial smile faded as she realized that the only reason why she wasn't high at the moment was because she couldn't leave this house, until now. Deep inside she knew that as soon as she walked out of that door she would find a way. But not the right way.

A tear made its way down her cheek as she remembered her father. He drank for years, denying that he had any problem. It got so bad that he ruined whatever family reputation they had, lost whatever money the family had, and left them with nothing but a name and the amounting debt. Michiru remembered her mother desperately trying to save him, but she wasn't strong enough at the time. She wasn't able to do it. It all suddenly made sense to Michiru. Not just why she got herself so deep in shit in such a short time, but also why her mother brought her to Haruka. Eiko was afraid that she would fail again and lose the only real family she had left, lose her daughter, just like she had lost her husband.

Michiru relived the moment when the gun was at her temple, reminded herself of all those images that flashed before her eyes. That was the reason why she wanted to live, she didn't want to live to find another score. She was just too weak to resist. Kaioh Michiru was weak. She chuckled sadly, drawing attention from Haruka who finally looked at her.

"Please don't make me go," Michiru whispered, the sad expression that settled in her face after she chuckled didn't leave her features.

Haruka's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"I can't do this, Haruka. I can't deal with this on my own, please let me stay."

Haruka thought Michiru was joking. She spent all this time trying to get out, drive Haruka insane and now she was pleading to stay? _'No fucking way.' _She got up and looked down at the crying woman. "No. I don't owe you anything, I'm not your babysitter, go find help somewhere else."

"Haruka -"

"Michiru, I'm not a rehab!" Haruka's voice finally lost its cool and rose.

Michiru got up to her feet and faced the irritated taller woman. "I know you're not. But you're the only one who cared enough to get me through the worst of it, I need you to help me get through the rest, I won't otherwise."

"I _cared_ enough?" Haruka narrowed her eyes. "I don't give a shit, Michiru, I was blackmailed into helping you."

"Then what has changed?" Michiru shouted back.

"I almost killed you! That's what's changed!" Haruka shot back. They were standing dangerously close, both almost as mad as they had been in the past week, only for a different reason.

"But you didn't!" Michiru got her tone back in control.

"I came fucking close to. I need peace, Michiru, all you're doing is taking it away from me."

Michiru looked into the angry face, but what she saw was the painful expression from before. Before her brain even processed her next actions, she flung herself against the blonde, wrapped her hands around Haruka's neck and buried her face in Haruka's shoulder. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Haruka, I never wanted any of this to happen! I never wanted to become a burden to you, I never thought I would stoop as low as I have, I hate myself for what I've become, you're right to hate me too, but please, please, I beg of you, help me find my way back! There is no one I can do that with, only you."

Haruka almost reacted by pushing Michiru away the moment their bodies collided, but then she felt the tears trickling down her neck, soaking her shirt. She didn't move, listening to Michiru's plea and feeling the trembling of the small body. If she was her usual collected self, she would have grabbed the smaller woman and threw her out of the door. However, she wasn't her usual collected self at the moment, her ego was taking a break while the little girl from the streets was controlling her system, allowing her heart to feel for Michiru. She knew perfectly well what it was like to need someone to help you, no matter their reasoning. That girl could not deny a cry for help. Haruka's hands rose on their own accord and hugged the skinny shaking frame, bringing her closer.

"Fine." The word, spoken barely above whisper, was everything Michiru needed to hear. She knew that that one word was all she needed to find her way back and maybe, just maybe, it was all both of them needed to find their common way.


	17. Clean Slate

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 17**

**Clean Slate**

Haruka came to her senses as she felt a slight cramping in her lower back. Her mind registered that she was standing upright, her hands were wrapped around an awfully bony female figure, and her face was resting on top of hair that smelled of her own shampoo. She had no idea how long they had been standing like this, but if her own body was of any indication, it had been a while. Surprisingly, she didn't really want to let go. It was peaceful, soothing. The stillness around her wasn't interrupted by anything, the silence was only broken by shallow breaths and the rhythmic beating of two hearts. They both stood deep in thought, both trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces and where to put them in order to bring their lives to some sort of normalcy again.

Haruka took another moment to collect herself and bring her regular front before she let her hands drop to her sides, followed by Michiru's reluctant release of Haruka's neck. They stepped apart and looked in different directions: Michiru to the floor, Haruka to the bay.

"What day is it?" Michiru finally asked, looking for something to break the stretching silence that was no longer comfortable.

Haruka looked back at her and smiled. "It's New Year's Eve."

Michiru stared at Haruka before she started laughing uncontrollably, for the first time in over two months.

"What's so funny?"

Michiru suppressed another fit of laughter and looked at the curious blonde. "I think I just made my New Year's resolution, with your help."

Haruka cocked an eyebrow. "Do you usually stick to those?"

Michiru sobered up. "Never. For my own sake, though, I hope this will be the first time."

Haruka nodded and walked to the kitchen, though she knew that it was empty. What the hell were they supposed to do now? She agreed not to throw Michiru out of the door, but what was she supposed to do with her? It wasn't like she could close her in the dungeon again. She no longer had a reason to, nor did she really want to bother. Maybe they should just take it one step at a time, just as things came up. Yes, that was it: one thing at a time, not thinking what would happen tomorrow. Maybe that would be Haruka's resolution. "Are you hungry?"

Michiru tried to figure out how her body would react to food, but didn't find a clear answer. "Somewhat."

Haruka rubbed the back of her neck. "Pizza?"

"Sure." Michiru sat back down in the chair she occupied previously and watched as Haruka called in the order.

Haruka hung up the phone and turned on the lights, leaving them comfortably dim. She walked to the chair and sat down, looking at Michiru, trying to figure out what the next "thing" was. "So, since you're invading my personal space, the least you could do is entertain me."

Michiru, who but for the still aching limbs and slightly nauseating state was almost back to her normal self, cocked an eyebrow at that statement. "Would you like to clarify the 'entertain' part?"

Haruka watched the invader with slight interest, realizing that the violinist decided to take over the drug addict in Michiru's body. It was a nice thing, considering that Haruka really disliked the latter. "You've spent a considerable amount of time sneaking around, hounding information about me down, shouldn't you know me by now?" Haruka knew it was an empty question, no one knew her. Except for the rare few and those only partially.

"From what I learned from _personal_ experience with you, you could see entertainment in either racing, sex, verbal, or physical abuse."

Haruka didn't have time to compose herself, so she flinched from the statement. "I've never considered any form of abuse an entertainment." Her tone reflected the disdain she felt.

"You seemed to enjoy torturing me." Michiru wasn't amused in the slightest, rather she tried to take some load off of her chest.

"I reacted to being manipulated and then you became an ungrateful self-centered bitch who didn't have it in her to appreciate being alive. So pardon me for snapping." Haruka gritted her teeth.

Michiru opened her mouth to retort, but closed it before anything came out. She opened it again, only to repeat the process. Was there a point in arguing about how they both handled themselves in the past week? It was the worst Michiru had ever been treated in her life, but it was also the worst she had ever treated someone. She shook her head. "I'm sorry. Can we forget about everything that happened and just start over?"

Haruka was watching Michiru argue with herself and was relieved when Michiru decided not to pursue the subject. Haruka was much too tired to have any kind of debate, especially one that involved an aggravating subject. "I don't know. Maybe. Let's just take it one thing at a time." Tired blue eyes locked with the sparkling ocean blues.

"I'd like that." Michiru offered a shy smile.

The moment was broken by the impatient knocking on the door, which Haruka hurried to open. Michiru watched as the blonde paid the delivery boy and brought pizza to the table. They both dug in, even though it took a single piece for Michiru to feel satisfied, having not had food at regular intervals and in normal quantities for a while. Michiru wiped her mouth and hands clean with a napkin and relaxed back into the chair, watching Haruka eat in silence. "Why did you have Demon and that doctor in the house?"

Haruka chewed a mouthful of pizza before answering. "They decided to play family."

"But they're not your actual family?"

Haruka took another bite to buy some time for herself to think. She wasn't intoxicated, not like when she had her little sharing moment with Sayuri, so did she really want to share any information about herself? This was different, new. Then again, this whole ordeal was different and what was the harm in answering a few questions that surveyed her life more than they did herself?

"No, they aren't." Haruka gave it another thought. "Well, Daiki is my cousin, but that's a different story."

"Care to elaborate?" Michiru held her breath.

"No."

Michiru let her breath out. Of course, why would she elaborate? "Do you have any family… other than Daiki?"

"I see your persistence is back." Haruka raised a fine blonde eyebrow.

Michiru matched the motion with her own dark green one. "I have to bring it to even have a chance of a conversation with you."

Haruka chuckled. It was somewhat amusing to have this conversation with Michiru. "No, I don't have any family. Never had one."

Michiru was watching Haruka intently, so the dark shadow that passed through the blonde's features didn't escape her, but she decided not to press her luck. "Who's the doctor then?"

Haruka blinked at the change in direction of violinist's questioning. She was sure Michiru would press on her orphan past instead of diverting to a safer ground. _'I forgot that you like to surprise me, mermaid.' _"Abe Sayuri. You've seen her race before."

"She's in the club?" Michiru was genuinely surprised, the woman was familiar, but Michiru could not place her.

Haruka nodded, deciding not to elaborate on Sayuri's involvement with the gang.

"You don't come across as someone who just hosts people in their house." Michiru caught the dark blues and held them with her gaze.

"I don't." Haruka wiped her hands with the napkin. "I, however, had a recently overdosed drug addict in my house and was in need of some medical assistance, so I called in a favor." Haruka grimaced. "Then she decided that because I called in a favor she could just show up here with her fuck buddy like we're all a happy freaking family."

There were more questions that Michiru wanted to ask from that explanation, but her stomach processing the heavy food made her remember that her withdrawal symptoms were not gone. She got up at the first gagging feeling, but it subsided, so she took her time getting to the bathroom.

Haruka watched as Michiru got up and stilled for a moment, before taking a few steps in Haruka's direction. Haruka raised her head at the woman now standing above her, wondering what she had in mind. Michiru's hand reached down and her thumb slowly traced the curve of Haruka's bottom lip, coming to the corner of Haruka's mouth. Haruka grabbed the small wrist on reflex as a shiver shot though her body. The desire towards a woman that Haruka despised then hated and now was just utterly confused about was most unwelcome. She held the wrist in her hand as she raised an eyebrow, as if to ask what the hell Michiru thought she was doing.

Michiru smirked in response and twisted her arm to show her thumb to Haruka. "You had sauce in the corner of your mouth."

Haruka let the wrist go, feeling somewhat annoyed at herself for the sexual connotation she gave to Michiru's simple action. That annoyance disappeared and was replaced with another bolt to her system as she saw Michiru slowly put her thumb between her teeth and lick the sauce off, closing her lips and sucking gently on it. '_Fuck.'_ Haruka could feel the heat rise to her head, as well as other parts of her body.

Michiru lowered her hand and bent over the blonde, bringing her face close to the racer's. "You might want to close your mouth before birds make a nest in it." She straightened back out and walked to the bathroom, a small giggle escaping her on the way.

Haruka knew her face was bright red at the moment and she mentally scolded herself for being played like this by a less experienced woman who Haruka had no attraction to whatsoever. To her further annoyance, her own body seemed to disagree with her mind on the attraction part.

**x x x  
**

'_One thing at a time.'_ Haruka was trying to take the knots out of her neck with her own fingers as she stood in the middle of her bedroom, looking at her bed. The current thing she had to deal with was figuring out what to do with Michiru for the night to come. Somehow she just didn't feel right shoving the younger woman back into the empty room after having a pleasant dinner. On the other hand, she didn't want to have any complications from sleeping in the same bed with Michiru.

"Do you want me to massage it?"

Haruka turned towards the door to the hallway and saw Michiru leaning against the frame. "No." The last thing she needed right now was Michiru's hands anywhere near her body. She needed time to get her composure back.

Haruka lowered her hand down and gave last look to her king size bed. "You can sleep in the bed, so long as you can keep you hands…" Haruka closed her eyes, remembering the way she had been awoken last time she had let Michiru sleep in her bed without tubes holding her down. "...and your mouth, lips and tongue included, to yourself."

Michiru blushed at the reminder profusely. "I promise."

Haruka nodded. "I'm taking a shower." She made her escape after grabbing some clean clothes - there was no way she would sleep naked with the temptress again. Haruka turned the hot water on, washing her tired body thoroughly before she completely shut it off and let the ice water cool her down.

Michiru took her sweatpants off and climbed under the blankets, leaving her underwear and t-shirt in place. It felt heavenly to be on the soft bed again and she wasn't about to lose that luxury, so she laid herself down on the very edge of the side of the bed she knew Haruka didn't use, the one closest to the bathroom door. She closed her eyes and felt the peaceful sleep take her exhausted mind and body, bringing an end to this awful day and the bad year.

Haruka slowly opened the door to the bedroom and gently closed it behind herself. The room was bathed in moonlight that highlighted the features of the woman sleeping peacefully on the very edge of Haruka's bed. She looked angelic in the lighting, her features relaxed, her soft hair framing her beautiful face. Haruka knew Michiru was no angel, but she felt drawn to that being in her bed, the magical being that was different from the trashy drag-addict she had come to know. Haruka walked up and crouched in front of the low bed, looking at the familiar face and fighting the impulse to move away a long strand of hair that fell there. _'What am I gonna do with you, mermaid?' _Haruka's hand hovered over the peaceful features, tracing the curves of the face, without ever touching them.

**x x x  
**

A copper key made a small sound as it turned, unlocking the large wooden door. Daiki pulled it open and stepped inside his apartment, closing the door in his wake and putting a chain link in place. His hand was still on the link when he felt a belt placed around his neck and tightened from the back.

"You've let your guard down."

Daiki almost chuckled, but for the inability to do anything that involved his throat at the moment. The words almost sounded like a deja vu and the belt around his neck felt as menacing as the gun he put in Haruka's face. The major difference was that it wasn't Haruka behind him and whoever it was wasn't bluffing. "Who are you and what do you want?" Daiki wheezed.

"Oono-sama says hello." The man tightened the belt for one last time before letting Daiki go and pushing him down to the floor. Daiki coughed, trying to regain his composure. He scrambled to his feet and turned to face the intruder, his right hand still grasping his abused neck.

The burly man watched Daiki coldly, waiting to get his full attention back. "Oono-sama is disappointed with his investment. If it doesn't show the expected results, your girlfriend will be delivered to you in gift boxes. Over a period of a week."

"What fucking girlfriend?" Daiki ignored the other part of the threat, he knew where that came from.

The burly man took a stack of pictures out of his front jacket pocket and threw them to Daiki's feet. "You have a month."

Daiki watched the man go before he looked down at the photographs scattered around the floor. Sayuri. Him and Sayuri. Getting food. Walking to her door. In her living room. In bed. Sayuri at work. Sayuri at her parents' house. Sayuri and her brother. Sayuri's profile shots all over the town. Sayuri outside of Haruka's door.

"Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" He kicked the pictures all over the floor with his feet. "Mother fucker!"

Daiki pulled his phone out and dialed a number. "My place, fifteen minutes." He hung up and waited for his subordinates to arrive. He stared at the pictures again, his nostrils flaring in rage. He didn't want her to ever get in trouble because of him. He really did love her, as much as he could love someone… which really meant that he would be very upset if she was no longer there. What could he do? Hide her? They knew everything there was to know about her. Daiki had limited options in respect to Sayuri's involvement, in the end, his 'love' for her didn't measure up to the self-preservation instinct.

What bothered him more was that one shot outside of Haruka's door. Haruka was under his personal protection and any harm to her he took to heart. There was a potential threat brewing and it needed to be taken care of. Daiki came out of his dark thoughts at the sound of a confident knock on the door. He unlocked it and let three men in. They looked at the pictures on the floor indifferently before taking a seat on his sofas and raising their questioning eyes at him.

"Oono has become a problem."

One of the men raised an eyebrow at Daiki. "What do you want to do about it?"

"He has to be put in place."

"How?" Another voice came from the couch.

"Find out what he cares about, what his weaknesses are."

"Since when do heads of well-established yakuza clans have weaknesses?" The third voice asked.

"We all have weaknesses. Find his." Daiki closed the subject with a death glare.

**x x x  
**

Michiru woke up at the sound of barely audible whimpering. It took her a moment to figure out where she was and that her drug addiction was not simply a nightmare before she found the source of the small sound. On the other side of the bed, curled into a ball, Haruka was crying in her sleep. Michiru's breath caught. She wanted to reach out and comfort the obviously hurting blonde, wake her up from her nightmare, but just like she had known upstairs the previous evening, she knew now that she was seeing something Haruka didn't want anyone to see. Michiru's life was important to her again and she didn't feel like losing it because of her absence of tact.

She put her head back down on the pillow and watched as the slender body trembled. Michiru desperately wanted to know what it was that made Haruka this miserable and she found herself hoping that one day she would. She had to double-take at her own thoughts for a second. She hated Haruka just recently, she obsessed about her before, what was she thinking? Was she back to the obsessive mode? No, she was curious, but it wasn't as overwhelming to her system as she had let it become earlier. Before she had thought that she had fallenl in love with the racer. Now she knew that it wasn't love, it was lust and obsession. However, at this moment, when she lay in the semi-darkness of the predawn bedroom, hugging the blanket to her hurting body, watching the torment of the woman next to her, she felt her heart ache. She felt compassion. True compassion for another human being who was completely open to her… at least in her sleep.

**x x x  
**

Haruka woke up as the rays of sun hit her face and cringed. She knew she slept, but it felt like she hadn't. The images of the crash still plagued her mind, awake and asleep. She threw the covers off and then she remembered. Michiru. She looked to the other side of the bed and found it empty. Haruka walked through the empty house and sneered. How could she have been that naive? Was she so exhausted that she actually believed the load of shit that the violinist unloaded on her yesterday? Haruka should have known that Michiru would run at the first opportunity, looking for another score. Haruka shook her head in dismay at her own stupidity. She made her way back down and turned on the music, deciding that it was time to catch up with her morning ritual. She walked to the exercise room and got to work.

**x x x  
**

Running took some of the edge off, but it thoroughly exhausted her body that was deprived of its usual energy by the lack of good sleep. Haruka decided to skip on the other exercises and showered instead, not bothering to silence the music - it pounded nicely on her head, in tune with her shitty mood. Haruka quickly washed the sweat off and brushed her teeth before wrapping herself in a towel and walking to her bedroom in search of comfortable clothes. A pleasant smell surprised her senses from beyond the open bedroom door. Haruka's brow furrowed as the blonde made her way in search of the source of smell that didn't belong to the house, making her way upstairs. What met her eyes as her head reached the level of the ground floor was something that almost made her trip and fall back down.

Michiru was standing by the stove, holding a skillet in one hand and a spatula in another, fighting with whatever it was she just slightly burned. Judging by the smell, Haruka deduced those were eggs. Haruka regained her composure and walked up to the violinist, looking over her shoulder as Michiru tried to make the egg unstick from the skillet. Haruka chuckled lightly at the sight in front of her.

Michiru jumped as a warm breath on her neck broke her concentration, followed by a chuckling sound. She almost landed on top of the stove as she spun around, dropping both the skillet and the spatula in the process. "Jesus Christ, Haruka, you scared the crap out of me!"

Haruka laughed openly at the woman's reaction. For some odd reason she felt relief from seeing Michiru back and the domestic scene made her anger go away."You were too adorable not to scare."

"A-adorable?" Michiru breathed out as her eyes finally took in the sight in front of her. Haruka was standing barefoot, wrapped in a green towel, water still traveling down her body. Michiru forced herself to look above Haruka's neck line as her initial shock was replaced by an overwhelming desire to tease back.

"Do you always parade wet and half-naked around your house?"

Haruka suddenly realized that she was, indeed, wet and half-naked. "This _is_ my house." She took a step closer to Michiru, who was still supporting herself against the stove. "Does it bother you?"

Michiru inched away backwards, trying to separate herself from the object of her lust, a feeling that she found was not all that behind her. "Should it?"

Haruka moved her face closer to the violinist's as her body pressed against the smaller woman. Their lips were almost touching, but not quite. Michiru fought with her impulse to jump the blonde as Haruka spoke again, brushing her lips against Michiru's in the process. "You should figure out if it does if you intend to stay here."

Haruka's hand found its way up the sleeve of Michiru's sweater to settle on an angular shoulder. The action broke Haruka's spell and she moved away, freeing Michiru from the torture. "Woman, you should really put some meat back on your bones."

Michiru breathed out as she tried to control her own body and make the wave of desire subside. "I was working on it." She picked up the forgotten skillet from the stove and dove down to pick up the spatula from the floor. "I've never done this before."

Haruka watched her in amusement. "You've never cooked before?"

Michiru blushed and shook her head.

"Wow, I feel honored." Haruka put as much mirth in her tone as she could master to cover the fact that she meant it. "You might want to use some oil on that." She nodded at the skillet in Michiru's hands before making her way back to the bedroom.

**x x x  
**

Michiru was proud: she had successfully made four more eggs that did not stick to the skillet and she did not burn the toast. She took out two plates and put the food on them, prepared the silverware and poured coffee in two cups. What she struggled with now was where to set it all. There was a small rectangular island in the kitchen area, but there were no chairs. There was no dining table, only the coffee table. She looked around, biting on her lower lip, as Haruka made her way upstairs.

"Put it on the island." Haruka saw the hesitation in the younger woman's eyes.

Michiru did so and watched as Haruka snapped something on the side of the fixture, taking two stools out. "I didn't even notice them."

"That's the point." Haruka gestured for Michiru to take a seat. They both enjoyed the simple meal in comfortable silence. Haruka appreciated the effort, but didn't really want to show it. Michiru was proud of herself, but didn't want to put that in Haruka's face. So both silently agreed on not interrupting the moment, a shrill of a phone did that for them.

Haruka grimaced before pulling the device out of her jeans' pocket and sliding it open. "Tenoh."

"_Haruka."_

"Sayuri." Haruka set her cup of coffee back on the island.

"_Stop by my office."_

"Excuse me?"

"_We need to have a chat… I've got the results back."_

"I'll be over within an hour." Haruka looked at Michiru, wondering what the next hour would bring.

"_See you then."_

Haruka hung up the phone, but didn't remove her eyes from the younger woman. "How many people have you slept with?"

Michiru choked on her coffee. "Excuse me?"

"How many people other than me have you slept with?" Haruka asked in the same even tone.

"Why do you want to know?" Michiru raised an eyebrow.

"Because you're sleeping in my bed. How many?" Haruka's voice hardened slightly.

"Four." Michiru closed her eyes, hiding her shame.

Haruka eyed her wearily, trying to see if she was being truthful. She finally took the shameful expression as a genuine one and got up, nodding slightly. Michiru opened her eyes and watched Haruka walk towards the car. Haruka paused before she was out of the earshot and asked without turning: "Men?"

Michiru closed her eyes again, even though she knew Haruka couldn't see her. "One man, three women. I didn't share needles, at least not that I remember."

Haruka nodded again. "I'll be back soon." She walked the rest of the distance to the car and left the ashamed woman behind.

**x x x  
**

"Take a seat." Sayuri gestured to the chair in front of her desk.

"Nice office." Haruka sat down and looked around.

"Thanks." Sayuri took her own seat and pulled out two folders from a pile. "Neither of you has HIV." She decided to get straight to the point.

Haruka silently released a shallow sigh and Sayuri watched the reaction before she continued. "Michiru has HPV, otherwise she's clean."

"When the hell did you swab her?" Haruka was surprised.

"You were there... Before I put the catheter in," Sayuri explained evenly. "You probably gave it to her, too."

"Excuse me?" Haruka stared at the older woman.

"It's the same type as yours."

"I may have missed you swiping her vagina, I sure as hell know you were nowhere near mine. How the fuck do you know?" Haruka's gray eyes narrowed into slits.

"I pulled your file," Sayuri answered without any hesitation.

"What the fuck?" Haruka got out of the chair. "First, who said you can, second how do you know it's the right one?"

Sayuri relaxed back into her chair and smiled. "I've got your age, blood type and other genetic information. It wasn't that hard to pull you up. Besides, you always use the same initials in your aliases, not the smartest thing in the world. So, Hana Takata-san…I would keep a close eye on your and your partner's HPV development, lest it escalates to cancer."

Haruka swallowed hard. "She's not my partner and I did not give her HPV that leads to cancer."

Sayuri's face grew serious again. "There are over a hundred different HPV types and of all the different ones you two happen to have the same one. Neither of you has cancer, but both of you are predisposed to cervical cancer at this point. You need to get tested every six months to see where it goes. Yours has been in remission for the past few years, but you never know. It's a virus, Haruka, it has a mind of its own."

Haruka sat back down and rubbed her temples with her middle and index fingers. "You called me here to tell me that I infected Michiru?"

"No, I called you here so that you don't."

"What?" Haruka brought her eyes to Sayuri's.

"You have Hep B."

Haruka's eyes widened and she just stared at the woman in front of her, her mouth agape. "No. I don't." She shook her head to further her point.

"Yes." Sayuri nodded hers in response. "You do."

"Bull shit, I have no symptoms."

"It's asymptomatic. Lucky you." Sayuri shrugged.

"Lucky me? Are you fucking with me, Say?"

"Uh uh." Sayuri shook her head fervently. "Wouldn't fuck you if you begged me with your fruit basket of viruses."

"I said _with me_, not _me,_" Haruka hissed.

"No, Haruka, I'm completely serious. It's a good thing you don't drink much, your liver is vulnerable. In any case, you need to be treated and please don't spread the infection while you're out in the open."

Haruka just sat there, blinking. Her life never seemed to get boring. "What do I do?"

"Take the meds and hope that it goes away sooner rather than later. It's acute, not chronic, so it should work itself out of your system." She gave Haruka a sad glance. "You probably wouldn't have had it if you had all the injections as a kid."

"Yeah, they forgot to give those out by my local dumpster."

A shadow passed through Sayuri's face, she couldn't even imagine what Haruka's life had been like. "Well, they did give it to the rich kids, but you should still stay away from her, Haruka. Her body is stressed as it is, she doesn't need another infection to fight with."

Haruka nodded. "How long?"

"Weeks to months, depending on how you deal with it. I don't think you're a chronic carrier, but I will need to test you in six months."

Haruka's eyebrows slowly rose up to her forehead. "You want me to go without sex for _six_ months?"

Sayuri laughed at the expression on Haruka's face. "No, I'll do PCR tests to assess your viral load and find out your infection status, then we'll monitor the treatment." The doctor gave another unsure look to her new patient. "I can also give a booster to Michiru."

"I'm not intending to sleep with her." Haruka rolled eyes at her own statement, they did share a bed. "I'm not intending to have sex with her."

Sayuri tilted her head to one side, studying the blonde. "I see you're back to liking her."

"I'm not. Do the test and let me out of here, I'm suffocating."

"Dodging? Alright. I thought you liked my office." Sayuri got up to escort Haruka to the room where her test would be administered.

"Yeah, it's your presence. Deprives me of oxygen." Haruka followed the doctor out.

**x x x  
**

Michiru was pacing the length of Haruka's house, waiting for the blonde to return. Haruka didn't explain where she went, but Michiru did hear her speak to the doctor on the phone and it didn't take her long to figure out why Haruka had asked her how many people Michiru has had been with. It wasn't something Michiru was proud of, quite the opposite. She did it to rid herself of the obsession with Haruka, to find someone who would make her feel the same… she failed miserably and gave up, switching to other means of consolation. First it was alcohol, then she recreationally tried cocaine, then… then she discovered heroin. She felt her forehead perspire and wasn't sure if it was from her memories or the withdrawal.

She spun around as the garage door started to open, welcoming the sight of a white Enzo. She remembered that she wanted to ask Haruka why her car was of a different color, but decided that she would do it later. First, she needed to know why Haruka went to see Sayuri. She watched as the blonde got out of the car, carrying a small bag. "Hi." Michiru tried to stay still.

"Hi." Haruka kicked off her shoes before walking inside and taking a good look at the obviously distraught woman. "I've asked Sayuri to test you for… well, everything, and apparently she did more." Haruka threw the bag on the table and took a seat, rubbing her face.

"And?" The anticipation was killing Michiru.

Haruka removed the hands from her face and looked up. "You're fine. With the exception of HPV." She scratched her forehead before continuing. "You just need to get tested for it every six months and -"

"I know what HPV is, Haruka, I'm not that green." Michiru took a breath to control herself. "Which strain? Does she know?"

"Yeah, it doesn't manifest itself on the outside, but it may potentially cause cervical cancer." To Haruka's surprise, tears collected in the corners of the ocean blues. Haruka's guilt-ridden consciousness that wasn't big enough to admit that it was most likely her fault, nonetheless made Haruka get up and hug Michiru, as the latter tried to fight tears. "It's okay... you'll be okay... I'm sorry."

"I don't want to die from cancer," Michiru stifled a sob.

Haruka chuckled and caressed the back of Michiru's head as the smaller woman hid her face in the nook of Haruka's shoulder. "You don't have cancer. You just have to watch it, see where it goes. If it gets worse, there are procedures that can help. You _will_ be okay."

"You don't know that."

"Michiru, you attempted to die twice in the past week and then I almost shot you. Any one of those three encounters with death was closer than your HPV." Michiru giggled despite her state because in the end it was very ironic that she was this disturbed by the remote possibility of death after everything she just went through.

"Not to mention your overdose," Haruka added. "Trust me, this new problem of yours is not as significant as it seems."

"How do you know that so well?" Michiru looked up and found herself touching the bottom of Haruka's jaw with her nose.

Haruka moved her head backwards to be able to see the younger woman's face. "Because I have it too."

"You gave it to me?" Michiru froze in her position.

Haruka shrugged. "Me, one of the other four or a toilet seat gave it to you."

"A toilet seat? Could you come up with a lamer excuse? It's a sexually transmitted disease, Haruka."

Haruka sighed and separated herself from the younger woman. "Not necessarily. If it was, I wouldn't have gotten it when I was still a virgin."

Michiru was surprised by the confession, distraught by the news, and at a loss of control of her emotions. So she used her mother's tactic, she decided to joke it off. "You were a virgin?"

Haruka looked at her from her half-leaning position over the table and smirked. "Imagine that?"

Michiru shook her head. "Not really."

"I know, shocking." Haruka took the little bag she was reaching for and pulled out a syringe.

"What is that?" Michiru watched as Haruka walked back to her.

"This is your health insurance."

"For?" Michiru watched with concern as Haruka stopped a foot away and looked at the menacing needle with distaste… and something else.

"In case you decide to wake up in the middle of the night and rape me… again."

"I thought that wasn't an option…" Michiru's smirk fell off of her face as her mind processed the words. "Wait, what do you have?"

"Hepatitis B." Haruka watched Michiru intently, expecting another emotional reaction. None came. "So you're worried about HPV, but you aren't worried about Hep B?"

"I've had shots against that and you didn't say I have it. Why would I be worried?"

"Yeah, why would you?" Haruka grabbed Michiru's upper arm, took the cap off of the needle with her teeth and inserted it in Michiru's bicep, pushing the liquid out, in one fluid motion. She withdrew the needle, let go of the arm and briskly walked to the trash container, disposing of the menacing instrument that made her shiver internally.

"You could've been a bit nicer about that." Michiru rubbed her arm, trying to figure out where the sudden mood change came from.

Haruka shook her head and occupied herself with her computer, ignoring Michiru's presence. Unfortunately, the presence of a small pinch of disappointment at Michiru's words wasn't as easy to ignore. _'Yeah, why would you be worried? It's not like we're sleeping together.'_


	18. Healing

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 18**

**Healing**

The next couple of weeks passed in a strange mix of camaraderie and ignorance. They would be sharing a meal and having a pleasant conversation one moment and then hide in their separate corners the next. Or Haruka would just ignore Michiru, or Michiru would just give Haruka a silent treatment. Haruka seemed excessively moody, which Michiru figured was a result of having someone in Haruka's house and whatever it was that bothered the blonde. Michiru herself was doing much better with her symptoms, the pain was gone and the nausea was rarely present. However, a new, most unwelcome symptom manifested itself a few days ago, which made her as moody as the blonde. Insomnia.

Michiru had been laying in bed, fully awake, for the past three nights. Her body was exhausted and all she wanted to do was fall asleep, but her mind would not let her do so. Michiru had been waking up every night when Haruka had had her nightmares, but she didn't know the extent to which the blonde had them until the first restless night. Michiru watched the tormented figure on the other side of the bed for hours, twisting and turning. Michiru almost jumped herself when Haruka woke up with a silent scream, but composed herself in time and pretended to be asleep. She may not have won an Oscar for her performance, but it was good enough for Haruka not to notice that the violinist had been watching her. Michiru watched as Haruka cried in silence, hugging her knees to her chest and looking out of the window. Michiru truly didn't know how much longer she could just watch Haruka suffer and not console her on whatever it was… Michiru's own heart was breaking at the sight.

Today was a Friday, which meant that Haruka was busy organizing the events, while Michiru spent time in the empty house. The television had tired her a long time ago, so she gave up on it; she made a soup, cooking being something she had been learning in the past two weeks with the help of the books she had acquired during her first trip to the supermarket. However, in the end, she was just bored, which in turn made her think of the satisfying feeling of being carried away into the realm of pleasure. Michiru flipped her phone and looked through the numbers on speed dial. Her finger lingered over "TH" before it pressed the name right on top of it.

"Jun, this is Michiru."

"_Kaioh-sama, it's such a pleasure to hear from you, how are you?" _

Michiru smiled at the warm voice of her driver. "I'm well, thank you. I was wondering if you could pick me up again."

"_Same place?"_

"Yes, Jun, same place."

"_I will be over in half an hour."_

"Thank you." Michiru disconnected and walked to the bedroom in search of something more appropriate to wear, more appropriate than the sweatpants and the t-shirt she was wearing. She needed to look presentable where she was going.

**x x x  
**

Haruka sipped on her cinnamon latte as she watched a slender platinum-blonde woman clad in a black business suit approach her table. She looked as good as always, although Haruka could see the new lines in her face that the worry must have etched permanently in the past month. "Kaioh-san, take a seat."

Eiko put a portfolio she was holding on the edge of the two-person coffee table before she took the offered seat across from the racer.

"You have something for me?" Haruka set her cup down and relaxed into the back of the chair.

"How is Michiru?" Eiko locked her eyes with the blonde.

"Alive. What do you have?" Haruka's voice was neutral, but the underlying arrogance clearly came through the posture and the way the blonde handled herself. Eiko sighed before taking some papers out of her portfolio and handing them to the racer. Haruka took the sheets and looked through them, unimpressed.

"Notes? It's been almost a month and all you've got for me is notes on what your husband spoke about at dinner?"

Eiko shifted in her chair uncomfortably. "What did you expect?"

"Information, Kaioh-san," Haruka pronounced Eiko's last name with a tone of disdain, not forgetting to let Eiko know exactly how much she did not like her at the moment.

"This is all the information I got," Eiko defended.

"Not good enough." Haruka threw the papers on the table.

"What would you like me to do?" Eiko tried to maintain her composure and not lose her temper with the younger woman.

"I would like you to give me information that I don't already know. Figure it out." Haruka finished her latte in one gulp and got up. She gave the blonde another look before taking the papers and her coat and heading out of the door, leaving Eiko staring at the table in deep thought.

Haruka should have gone to the shop to check on Hiro and drop off the papers she just got from Eiko, but she found herself drawn back home. She had no reason to stop by there, she had multiple errands to run in preparation for the night's race, but she found herself turning into her street instead. What met her at home wasn't what she expected and her brows furrowed, despite her intention of being indifferent. Michiru was gone.

The house was empty, just like that morning a couple of weeks ago when Haruka thought that Michiru had run away, except that this time violinist's luggage was gone along with her. Haruka seriously doubted that Michiru went shopping with a suitcase, so her only conclusion was that Michiru finally decided to depart, naturally forgetting to let Haruka know about it. She didn't notice how her frown was replaced with a scowl, but she did notice the anger and disappointment that invaded her system. Haruka briskly walked up the stairs, heading back to the car, cursing herself for coming by, for taking Michiru in, and for caring about the fact that she was gone. She just passed the glass pane, but had to backtrack in order to remove the sticky note that she failed to notice when she got home. She removed the small piece of paper and looked at it for a long moment in thought before crumbling it in her fist and shoving it in her pocket.

**x x x  
**

Michiru watched as the mansion came in her view from behind the pane of tinted glass. She hadn't been home for almost two months and she hadn't missed it in the slightest. It was her family home, but she hadn't been happy in it since her father had started drinking heavily, since her small happy world had fallen apart. She got out of the car as it pulled in the front and waited for Jun to carry her suitcase in, following him upstairs. To her relief, neither her mother nor Hideo seemed to be home.

Michiru stepped into her bedroom, took one look and proceeded on with her task. It took her less than half an hour to pack all of her worthy clothing and take things that mattered to her the most: her family album, her sketchbook and drawing supplies, and the violin. Michiru sighed in relief as the car door closed behind her and the mansion started to disappear from view in the rearview mirror. She did what she came there for and she did it without any interference. She couldn't have asked for more.

It only occurred to Michiru that she had no way of getting back into the house when it appeared in front of her. When she went grocery shopping she left the front door unlocked because Haruka was in the house, but she did no such thing this time. She walked up to the door nevertheless and turned the knob, as though she expected it to magically open. Naturally, it did not. Michiru looked around but knew that it was pointless - the house had no windows on three sides, it was like a fortress. Well, it looked more like a concrete box with two doors from the street, but Michiru knew that there was a fourth side that provided plenty of openness to the outside world… right above the cliff. None of that knowledge helped Michiru get back in, so she just stood there, thinking if she should call Haruka and plead for her to open the door… or if she could go an get a key from her.

The frown on Michiru's face was replaced with surprise as the door swung open and Haruka's amused face met her from the other side. "Do you think that you can intimidate the door into opening by just staring at it?"

A big grin slowly spread over Michiru's face. "Seems to work."

Haruka chuckled. "Yes, your power of internal persuasion seems to affect even inanimate objects."

'_I wish it did the same with animate ones.'_ Michiru's smile widened. "I just went to get some stuff."

"I saw your note."

"Why are you here?"

"Someone had to let you in."

"You didn't know I was gone."

"Would you like me to leave you outside until I get back at four in the morning?"

"Why are we speed-talking?" Michiru was still smiling, as was Haruka, but she was running out of breath from the fast-paced back and forth conversation.

"Tension reliever."

Michiru's smile suddenly disappeared. Why was there tension? They had been living together for the past three weeks… sort of. "May I come in?" She decided to change the subject in the end.

Haruka nodded and stepped away, allowing Michiru to come in and waiting for her driver to bring in her things. Michiru thanked him for his help and the door closed, leaving the two women alone. They were still standing facing each other, even though the door step no longer separated them. Neither said a word, neither moved. They just stood there.

Haruka cleared her throat. "I have to go get the toys for the playground."

"Okay." Michiru nodded.

Haruka moved forward, towards the garage, but stopped as she passed Michiru, their shoulders touching. She took the hand by Michiru's side and held it in her own, slipping the key she was holding in Michiru's fingers. She turned her head and whispered in violinist's ear. "Don't run away on me again."

Michiru felt butterflies in her stomach at the touch of Haruka's hand and the warm breath on her ear. Or maybe it was from the words that the husky voice just whispered to her. She didn't care what the origin of the feeling was, but it paralyzed her. She didn't even notice as Haruka left, she was savoring the feeling. Finally, she brought the still tingling hand up and opened her palm, looking at the small silver key with an eight-digit security code written on a small piece of paper attached to it.

**x x x  
**

Haruka got home an hour earlier than she had expected. The race went well, bringing her the long overdue income. Not that she was in dire need of money, but she was used to having 'pocket money' from her direct winnings at the race and she had not done one for three weeks, so it felt good to be back in the saddle.

She entered the bedroom and found Michiru peacefully sleeping on the side that had become hers at this point, still trying to keep to the edge. It occurred to Haruka that she did have a spare bedroom and could put another bed there, but she dismissed that logic with some lame excuse of the temporary nature of this arrangement. That excuse weighed even less now that Haruka gave Michiru a key to her house. It was a spur of the moment decision after she read the small note Michiru left, notifying Haruka that she stepped out, but would definitely be back. It was almost like her consciousness decided to become guilty because Haruka doubted Michiru, twice at that point, thinking that the violinist was looking to return to her previous bad habits. On the other hand, she had no reason to trust Michiru, so that was also a rather unfounded excuse, but it did propel her to make a copy of the house key and give it to her 'roommate.' No matter how most of Haruka's reasoning had no solid ground as of late, she would not admit to the actual reasons for her actions. For example, she would not admit, even to herself, that it was nice to come home to someone.

Shrugging her thoughts off, Haruka got ready for bed and climbed on her side. She was hoping that the race would do more than just benefit her financially. She was hoping that the much needed drive would take some of the tension off of her mind, allowing her to sleep through the night without waking up screaming or in tears. She turned on her left side and watched the even breaths of the sea goddess sleeping on the other side of her bed, until she herself was lulled into oblivion.

**x x x  
**

Michiru was watching Haruka from underneath her eyelashes. It didn't escape her that Haruka looked at her in thought and then fell asleep watching her, but she didn't know how to interpret that. She hadn't told Haruka that she couldn't sleep, that this was her fourth restless night. She wondered, as she lay there, how long it was humanely possible to stay awake. Something was telling her that she was nowhere near the limit, despite the exhaustion her body felt. As the digital clock hit 4:00 in the morning, Michiru gave up and went to find something that would occupy her mind without enticing her with illicit thoughts.

**x x x  
**

Haruka sat up in bed, catching her breath and wiping the sweat off of her forehead with a shaky hand. She breathed in and out, trying to steady herself and shake the dream off, reminding herself that as horrible as it was, it was in the past. She didn't need to relive it to remember, it would never leave her as it was. She turned her head to the left, hoping that her outburst didn't wake up Michiru, and was met with an empty bed.

As the pounding in her ears subsided, a soft melody penetrated her being, soothing her beyond anything her self control could ever achieve. Haruka just sat there, hugging her knees and enjoying the sorrowful but beautiful tune that spread throughout the house from the ground level. She felt like she was carried away by the ocean waves, forgetting everything that was on her mind just short minutes ago. Haruka didn't know how much time had passed, but she knew that disappointment filled her entire being when the music died away and the silence took over again.

**x x x  
**

Michiru was standing by the window, watching the play of lights over the dark waters of the bay. Her violin and bow by her sides, she was thinking about the role the music had played in her life. It always soothed her, it always brought her peace and tranquility. What was terrifying to her, was the fact that she had not played the violin in the past three months, losing a part of who she was in the process. Michiru was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't hear the silent steps, didn't notice Haruka standing behind her. Not until strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist, bringing her back against a tall body.

"You're not a mermaid."

Michiru's body went rigid at the unexpected invasion of her personal space and the husky whisper before it relaxed into the offered embrace. She turned her head and found herself looking questioningly in a face that was mere inches away from her own.

"You're not a mermaid," Haruka repeated."You're a siren."

She smiled shyly, watching the midnight blue eyes that sparkled above her shoulder. "You like my music?"

Haruka nodded slowly. Michiru turned back to the window, hiding the blush that suddenly warmed up her face. Haruka's gaze was met with a curtain of sea-green hair. Without giving it much thought, she inched closer, inhaling the fresh scent of her shampoo. The midnight blue eyes closed as she felt herself relax, a warming sensation spreading through her body. "Come to bed."

Michiru shivered as Haruka whispered in her temple. She nodded slowly and sighed in disappointment as the warmth of the taller body left her. She put away her instrument and followed the blonde back to the bedroom. They took their respective sides of the bed and lay on their backs, watching the ceiling. "I can't sleep."

Haruka turned her head to the side. "Why?"

"Insomnia."

Haruka sighed. "How long?"

"Four nights."

Haruka turned her head back, trying to find something interesting in the white pane above her that would take her mind off of the fact that Michiru must have seen her wake up every one of those four nights. "I can't sleep either."

It was barely a whisper. Michiru turned to look at the blonde and see if there was any indication that she actually admitted to it. "Why?"

"Nightmares."

Michiru held her breath. "Why?"

Haruka closed her eyes shut. "Just… memories. Forget about it."

Michiru almost forgot that she wasn't breathing when her body finally reminded her of the necessity of the presence of oxygen in her system. The disappointment flooded her with the much needed intake of breath: she came so close, but she was so far away. They lay still, each thinking of her own torments and her place in the world. Michiru's thoughts eventually wondered back to Haruka and what she was hiding; she was so deep in her own world that she didn't notice as the blonde moved. Michiru was taken out of her reverie by a strong arm that snaked its way around her waist and pulled her closer to the middle of the bed. She turned her head and was met with Haruka's face mere inches away for the second time that night.

"Sleep with me tonight."

"I thought I've been sleeping with you for the past weeks," Michiru whispered back.

Haruka shook her head slightly. "No one has ever slept with me."

The world stopped spinning for Michiru. Her thoughts were gone, there was not a sound around, nothing else mattered. Nothing but a tantalizing feeling that spread through her whole body at the meaning of that one sentence. She was afraid to move, she was afraid to reply, she was afraid to break that moment, so she just froze in that position, barely breathing.

Haruka watched the woman next to her in slight amusement. It was clear to her that Michiru didn'ot expect what Haruka just did, hell, she herself didn't expect it. But somehow it was comforting, to have Michiru in her arms, to breathe in the smell of Haruka's shampoo mixed in with Michiru's scent… she didn't know why, but she wanted it. To be close. For once in her life to be close to another human being. "You're gonna have a cramp in your neck if you sleep like that."

Michiru detected the slight sarcasm and breathed out a small sigh of relief. "You won't change your mind?"

"No." Haruka buried her face in the long tresses and hugged Michiru closer. "You're gonna be my personal body pillow."

Michiru's face lit up in a wide smile as she settled into the embrace, noting how her body fit perfectly with Haruka's. She was so busy enjoying the moment that she didn't notice as she fell asleep for the first time in days.

**x x x  
**

Daiki got home as the first lights of dawn grazed the horizon. He was careful to look for any signs of unwelcome presence before he closed the door shut behind himself, making sure that there were no unexpected surprises. He took his clothes off on the way to the bedroom, brooding over the fact that he lost to Haruka, yet again, and wondering if it was safe to get his beloved Lamborghini out of the pound. His black eyes fell on his bed and he froze at the sight of a box sitting on top of the covers. It looked like a simple white shirt box, there were no ties and no markings on it. Daiki approached it carefully, making sure that there was no noise coming from inside the box, and lifted it from the bed. Upon inspection, he figured that it was most likely empty - it was too light to have any kind of offensive device in it. He removed the top and found a card inside. The single line read: _Still not good enough. One week._

He turned the card over and looked at Sayuri's beautiful face. She was smiling at something only she knew, caught in the moment. Judging by the fact that Daiki was unsuccessful at finding any weaknesses in Oono's clan, Sayuri would not be smiling for long. Daiki did everything he could to distance himself from her in the past month, everything to show _them_ that he didn't care. There was no point to use her to get to him and he hoped that it would work. Looking at the picture in his hand he knew that that was an unlikely occurrence; but, as they say, hope dies last.

**x x x  
**

Sunlight filled the room, bathing it in its warmth, bringing out the yellow of the walls. Haruka's eyes were still closed, but she could tell that it was close to noon based on the amount of light beyond her eyelids. The first thing that came to her mind was that she had slept far longer than she had in as long as she could remember. Her next thought reminded her that that was because she had strange dreams, but no nightmares, which allowed her to catch up with the much needed peaceful sleep. Her next thought made her open her eyes. She was on her back, her left arm wrapped around a body that was half-way on top of her, her right hand on top of a delicate shoulder. Her eyes found a sea-green head resting on top of her chest, long slender arms wrapped around her own body. '_That's new.'_

Then she remembered why Michiru was in the position she was in and a small smile tugged at her lips. Haruka was enjoying this position and it didn't bother her in the slightest that she woke up in bed with another human being. In fact, she wouldn't mind waking up like that in the future.

As the rays of sun hit Michiru's face directly, she grimaced before leaving the land of dreams for good. She felt like she didn't want to wake up, like she was enjoying her dream and the comfort of her sleeping position too much to leave it. She blinked, trying to get her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room and then she heard it. A steady heartbeat. There was a steady heartbeat right underneath her ear. Her hands tightened around a body that apparently was not part of her dream, as she tried to figure out whether she was fully conscious.

"I thought you were supposed to be _my_ body pillow."

As soon as she heard the cocky husky voice, she knew she wasn't dreaming, though it still seemed like she was. Michiru didn't bother moving off of the 'body pillow,' twisting her neck to meet the sparkling blue eyes instead. "You don't seem to mind."

Haruka smiled at the still sleepy eyes and hugged her closer. "Apparently I don't."

Michiru smiled back and hid her face in Haruka's neck. She had no idea what all of this meant, all she knew was that she felt special and she didn't want this moment to end.

Haruka's hand was playing with the long silky hair that fell down Michiru's back. She felt strangely comfortable, which was why she made the decision she did. "If you would kindly untangle yourself from me -"

"You're the one holding me." Michiru pulled away, sobered up by the words.

Haruka watched the smaller woman's defensive retreat and hid her smile. "I was and you didn't let me finish." Haruka reached out and grabbed Michiru's elbow, pulling the slightly resisting and utterly confused woman back on top of herself. "What I was trying to say miss impatient…" Haruka's face lingered inches away from Michiru's, her lips barely resisting touching the porcelain skin. "Is that if you let me move, I would like to go and have breakfast somewhere… together."

Michiru's eyes were watching every movement of Haruka's lips. "Yet you just pulled me on top of you."

"I was caught in the moment."

"Like this?" Michiru gave in and covered the enticing lips with her own. It was a tender, slow kiss, almost as unsure as the one Michiru gave her on the doorstep of the Kaioh Manor at the conclusion of the first date. Unlike the first kiss, though, there was no overbearing passion… it wasn't brought on by raging hormones, it was brought on and accepted by feelings that bloomed inside both women.

Haruka brought Michiru even closer, almost as though she was trying to melt their bodies into one. She surprised herself by responding to the kiss without deepening it. She just enjoyed the texture of the luscious lips underneath her own, tracing their shape gently with her tongue, without invading the depths of Michiru's mouth.

"You… mmm… m-mentioned… food," Michiru mumbled through the kiss.

"Uh huh." Haruka's hands traveled along the slim back as she bit Michiru's lower lip. "Then someone occupied me otherwise."

A bolt of electricity shot through Michiru's body as Haruka's tongue slipped inside her mouth and Haruka flipped the violinist on her back, pressing her into the soft mattress with the weight of her body.

"Don't get too excited," Haruka smirked evilly as she disconnected herself from the smaller woman and got up. "Go get dressed before I change my mind."

Michiru gave her a deadly glare in return, grabbed the pillow, placed it over her heated face, and growled with all the frustration her body felt.

**x x x  
**

They had a brunch at a small restaurant near the pier and then, following another of Haruka's impulses, went on a cruise around Tokyo Bay. It was late afternoon and they were enjoying a cup of coffee in comfortable silence. Michiru watched the woman sitting across from her from underneath her eyelashes. She was wearing black dress pants and a midnight blue collared shirt, her black coat was hanging on the back of her chair. Despite it being a winter afternoon, Haruka was wearing her sunglasses, but Michiru still saw her looking outside, her eyes narrowed.

Haruka was sipping her caramel macchiato and checking out the street scenery when her eyes fell on a familiar black-haired woman that got inside a black Nissan GTI. Interestingly enough, Haruka noticed that she wasn't the only one watching Sayuri. A man crossed the street and got in a car parked a few spots behind the Nissan, his eyes never leaving the doctor's direction. The black Honda pulled out and followed the Nissan at a safe distance.

Haruka took another sip and turned her eyes back to her companion. Michiru raised a questioning brow and Haruka dismissed it with a wave of her hand. She reached in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone.

"_Yes?"_

"Do you have someone following your girlfriend?"

"_Why the fuck does everyone refer to her as my girlfriend?"_ Daiki replied in annoyance before growing a bit more concerned. _"Why?"_

Haruka put her glasses up on her head with her free hand and pinched the bridge of her nose. "She's being followed by a burly man, 5'10", mid-thirties, black Honda. Rings a bell?"

There was a noncommittal noise from the other side of the line and Haruka's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What did you get her into, you mother fucker?" she hissed the last part barely above whisper.

Michiru's eyes widened before she got herself back in control and just watched Haruka. She was used to the harsh language and the constant bickering at the races, but she hadn't seen it in the house when Daiki was around, nor did she hear Haruka swear since they stopped arguing.

"_Since when do you give a shit about her?"_

"Since she's the best thing that ever happened to you before you fucked it up." Haruka kept her tone low.

"_I didn't fuck it up."_

"Not from where I'm sitting." Haruka closed her eyes, knowing that Michiru would see straight through her non-caring facade and note the worry. She was starting to be good that way; Haruka figured that was what happened when you slept with someone and lived with them as well. "Dai, take care of it. She's not like us, she's good."

"_I know, kid. Don't worry about it."_

Haruka nodded and disconnected, throwing the phone on the table.

"What's wrong?" Michiru watched Haruka rub her face.

"Nothing." Haruka forced a small smile. "What's next on our list of Saturday entertainment?"

**x x x  
**

Daiki threw the small disposable phone against the wall of his office. The threat did not subside, and now Haruka got involved. It didn't matter that she was sitting on the sidelines; she would put her nose in it eventually. He felt cornered and he hated that feeling, it royally pissed him off. Too bad he didn't have a trump card up his sleeve.


	19. Bits and Pieces

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 19**

**Bits and Pieces**

Monday rolled around quickly and Haruka decided that it was time to return to her normal routine. The only exception to that routine was that over the weekend she gained a side-kick.

"Where are we going now?" Michiru asked from the passenger seat, sipping on her iced tea and chewing on the tapioca berries that she occasionally inhaled through the wide straw.

Haruka glanced at her and wrinkled her nose as the younger woman chewed on another berry. "Yack. How can you like that?"

Michiru giggled and showed Haruka another berry between her perfect white teeth. "Would you like one?"

"You're gross." Haruka shivered. "I wanna stop by Say's office. See if she has any news for me."

"Why don't you call her like you did before?"

Haruka shrugged. "I miss her."

Now Michiru just laughed. "Liar. I mean it would be cute, if you weren't lying."

Haruka just looked at her passenger with incredulity. "You think you know me?"

Michiru shook her head fervently. "No, not at all, I'm no longer delusional. However, I do learn fast… keep that in mind."

Haruka looked at her as they stopped at a red light. "Is that a threat?"

"Uh huh." Michiru unstrapped her seatbelt and moved to the driver's side, hovering over Haruka. "You should be threatened by me. Intimidated too. Because the little naive girl you met is gone and so is the drug addict. The woman I've been hiding my whole life is out… and you should be threatened by her." She leaned in for a deep kiss, taking full possession of Haruka's mouth. Haruka got over her surprise and accepted the gesture wholeheartedly.

"Did you forget who you're dealing with?" Haruka broke away for a moment, her hand squeezing one of Michiru's buttocks. "I don't get scared easily."

Michiru squealed before her mouth was captured again and she lost herself in the kiss. An angry horn reminded them that they were in a car in the middle of the street. Haruka grunted, but let Michiru quickly retreat back to her seat, leaving the intersection with a gust of wind.

**x x x  
**

Sayuri had a distinct feeling that she was being followed. It came to her a few weeks ago, it felt like someone was watching her. She dismissed it at first, thinking that it may be just some random person from the crowd, but the feeling never left. She constantly checked her surroundings, but couldn't see anyone. It made her jumpy and irritated most of the time, which affected her relationship with some of the hospital employees and she tried to right the wrongs as she saw the effects of her own actions.

Currently she was behind her desk, filling out the paperwork for her latest shift. It was a long night and her shift was officially over three hours ago, but she needed to catch up, so she drank her black coffee while she typed up her notes. A soft knock on the door broke her concentration and she furrowed a brow at the unexpected interruption. "Come in."

Her frown only deepened when she saw two women step through the door, one arrogantly walking like she owned the office and slumping her body in one of the chairs, while the other stood by the now closed door. "Don't be shy, Kaioh-san, I won't bite you. I'll save my vile for Tenoh."

"You can't bite her," Haruka warned. "She's mine."

"Is that so?" Sayuri leaned into the high back of her leather chair, amusement replacing her annoyance. "You are actually taking possession of your toy? Might I say you're growing up?"

"I'm not a toy." Michiru felt offended by the words.

Sayuri chuckled. "It's a metaphor. Your girlfriend knows what I'm talking about."

"My girlf…" Michiru looked at Haruka before looking back at the doctor. "She's not my girlfriend." She looked back at Haruka, whose arrogant smirk never left her face. "Are you?"

"You live with me, you sleep with me, you spend most of your time with me, you… _threaten_ and _intimidate_ me, what do you call that?" Haruka cocked a brow to further her point.

Michiru swallowed, trying to make her heart stop doing the little victory dance and do its job of rhythmically pumping blood. "What I call it and what you call it historically have been two different things."

"Well, now you know what I call it. Problems?"

Michiru started to shake her head, but stopped. "Are there ground rules that come with that? Because from my experience with you -"

Haruka raised her hand. "Just don't expect of me something you know you won't get and let me breathe." She was about to address Sayuri when her mouth opened again. "And don't do stupid things that will make me kill you. Because if you fuck up what we have in any way, I _will_ kill you."

"Wow, your insecurity is just fascinating. Only you could show your feelings and then follow up with a threat within the same breath. I'm sure Kaioh-san feels really loved right now." Sayuri's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"I didn't say I love her."

It was Michiru's time to raise her hand. "Yeah, we got it. You want everything that comes in a relationship without the stigma and the ties of a relationship. Get to the point of your visit."

Haruka opened her mouth to reply, but turned back to the doctor and asked what she came there for instead.

"You're fine. The test from last week was clean. I want to check up on you in another five months, just like I said originally, but I think there is no dormant infection. Just don't fuck around like a whore and you'll be fine."

"It's always such a pleasure to talk to you Say," Haruka replied scornfully.

"I've learned from the best. Besides, you can't deny the obvious." Sayuri earned a glare for her statement.

"Let's not discuss our sexual exploits, shall we?" Haruka grew serious. "How have you been?"

Sayuri barely hid her surprise. "Why do you want to know?"

"Curiosity," Haruka replied easily.

"I doubt it." Sayuri wasn't stupid. "What's on your mind?"

"I saw someone follow you the other day." Haruka watched as some of the color left Sayuri's face. "Any ideas?"

The doctor shook her head, her insides cold from the realization that she wasn't crazy, there was some kind of threat to her safety. "No. I had a feeling of being followed, but never saw anyone."

"For how long?"

Sayuri shrugged. "A month or so."

Haruka sighed, turning her head to look outside the window. "You should get out of Tokyo for a while, Say. Go somewhere safe, somewhere they can't find you."

"Who's _they_?" Now Sayuri felt terrified.

Haruka shook her head slowly. "I don't know, nor do I honestly want to."

"Why?" Sayuri knew that as one of the Wings she was bound to be involved in some kind of illegal drama, but she didn't have any enemies, not that she knew of.

Haruka looked at her for a long moment. "It's all about who you bring to bed, Say."

Nothing else needed to be said and the two looked at each other in silence, a complete understanding passing without words. Michiru watched the interaction and connected the dots as they went, but what caught her attention the most was that last statement. It explained so much about why the racer didn't have relationships. This time Michiru didn't stop her heart from its little dance.

Haruka broke the staring match and pulled a small box out of her coat pocket, extending it to Sayuri. Sayuri accepted and opened it, her eyes growing wide in surprise at the pair of stud earrings inside. "What did I do to deserve this?"

"You helped me. By saving at least two lives I care for, I can only repay in the same way."

Sayuri felt the stinging sensation in her eyes. She wasn't sure if it was because she was afraid for her life or because she was touched by Haruka's concern for her. Yes, she did save Michiru's life, but she never really considered her saving Haruka's lung as life saving. Not that she was about to correct the blonde, she wasn't stupid.

"They are transmitters, I'll know where you are if I need to, so wear them all the time."

Sayuri nodded, taking the hoops out of her ears right then and there.

"Go visit someone who's not family. I'll let you know when the coast is clear." Haruka handed her a small white phone. "Get rid of yours and never use this one, unless you absolutely have to, my number is there. I will be the only one calling. Make sure you're not followed." Sayuri nodded, in trance, and watched as her visitors got up and quietly walked to the door. "And Say," Haruka paused before she turned the knob. "Don't let Daiki know about any of this."

Haruka watched as Sayuri nodded, a single tear running down her cheek, before she opened the door and let Michiru out, leaving the scared doctor behind. Haruka leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, wondering how much trouble Sayuri was really in and what else she could do to help. "Are you sure you want to be in a relationship with me?"

Michiru saw the tired gray eyes open and put her hand on Haruka's cheek in a slight caress. "Even if it costs me my life."

Both understood perfectly that the statement wasn't an exaggeration, but rather a reflection of the true possibilities. Both were on the same page, there were no more misunderstandings, no more hidden meanings or desires. From that point on, both knew that whatever was to come, they were in it together.

**x x x  
**

Haruka woke up that night in tears, again, only this time she was embraced by a woman that kissed away her tears. She had never felt so much care come from anyone in her life and that was the final blow that did it. She started talking and it was like someone opened the faucet that overfilled the basin below. It began with her nightmares and the crash and continued with random bits and pieces of her life. Haruka was voicing her memories as they came to her, like she was looking through a family album.

Michiru just stroked the short silvery-white strands, while holding Haruka's upper body in her lap. She was overwhelmed by the amount of information, she was overwhelmed by all the feelings that Haruka's life spurred in her, but she didn't dare to stop listening, to stop her comforting motion. They cried and laughed together, until Haruka ran out of steam and let Michiru speak. The violinist shared some of her own painful experiences, primarily her father's demise and the changes that it prompted in her mother. Her inability to be who she really wanted to be, until now.

They talked through the night, but by the end of it, both felt like they were connected through a lifetime. There wasn't one living breathing soul in the rest of the world that knew more about them than they knew about each other as the first rays of sun tried to break through the thick cover of clouds.

**x x x  
**

"Are you sure you wanna go back to gray?" Hiro scratched his head as he looked at the white Enzo.

Haruka zipped up her jumpsuit and nodded. "You can ask me five more times, and the answer will still be the same."

"I just like it white." Hiro shrugged.

"Yet your car is silver with blue pattern?" Haruka raised an eyebrow.

"Is cool that way. I like _yours_ white." Hiro looked at the woman sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting area, a sketchpad in her lap, and a pencil in her hand. "What's she doin' here anyway?"

Haruka followed his gaze. "She's here waiting for me and she has attributes other than her chest." She smacked him on the back of his head.

"Oww. What's that for?" Hiro rubbed the hurting spot.

"So you remember not to stare next time." Haruka turned and walked to the small room that housed the Enzo and the painting tools.

Hiro walked to the violinist and watched as a silhouette of a dolphin appeared in the pad.

"Please don't tower over me, you're blocking the light." Michiru didn't bother interrupting what she was doing as she spoke.

"Jeez… freaking great. Now I have two of them to deal with." Hiro walked to his chair behind the counter, waving his hands in the air.

Michiru stifled a chuckle and continued drawing, wanting to be near the blonde, but not wanting to be in her way.

**x x x  
**

It was late Thursday afternoon when an elder woman with gray hair knocked on the door of Daiki's office. She was a clerk used for filing and other errands around the department, and Daiki waved her in without breaking away from the documents he was inspecting.

"Superintendent General-san." She bowed in front of his desk. "This was delivered for you."

Daiki's eyes widened slightly as the woman set a white unmarked box on his desk. He didn't notice as she bowed again and left the office. He stared at the box for a long while before he closed the blinds and opened the top.

_Time's up. Still not good enough. A lump-sum deposit would prevent other parts from coming in. Do you think the doctor needs her fingers? _He removed the note that lay on top of black plastic and moved the material aside, expecting to see a finger, but finding a bloody ear with a hoop earring in it instead. He knew those earrings well. He gave them to Sayuri for Christmas as a spur of the moment thing and she had been wearing them ever since. He felt the vile rise up in his throat, despite the sight in front of him being nothing in comparison to other things he had seen in life. The difference was, he cared for the person that was now in immense pain… hopefully still alive. Anger built, turning into blinding rage. No one messed with Sanu Daiki, yakuza or not.

Daiki rummaged through his files until he found the folder he was looking for. He knew he would regret what he was about to do at some point in the future, but he would deal with that then. Right now he needed someone to take care of his problem. He found what he was looking for and picked up his cell. "I need you to arrange a meeting with Wada-sama."

"_And you are?"_ the emotionless voice on the other end of the line replied.

"Sanu Daiki. He knows who I am."

**x x x  
**

Haruka and Michiru were watching the morning news as they ate the breakfast Michiru made. She was definitely getting a handle on cooking and Haruka found her learning curve fascinating. She was studying the features of the aristocratic face as reporter's words peaked her interest.

"_...the boat accident is suspected to be a result of foul play by the rivals of the well-known Oono clan. It is estimated that Oono-san's entire family was on board, although only Oono-san's and his son's body have been recovered at this point. The news has created a major stir in the organized crime circles, as one of the largest yakuza clans lost its head."_

Haruka's coffee was long forgotten, her eyes looked at the screen unseeingly. She had never dealt with Oono clan and she tried to avoid yakuza generally, having had the most unpleasant encounter in the past, but she had a nagging feeling that the news would affect her.

"Haruka?" Michiru was watching her girlfriend with concern. "Did you know them?"

Haruka shook her head. "I just have a very bad feeling about this and I can't explain it."

Michiru didn't really know how the demise of one of the organized crime groups could be a bad thing, which clearly showed in her face. Haruka noticed it and decided to clarify her statement. "Clan heads don't just get chopped off unless there is a raging war and there are too few who would go against Oono. Someone must have pulled some good strings with a good reason. I really would like to believe that I don't know who it was, I just have a bad feeling that I do." Haruka stood up abruptly, ending the conversation and silencing any questions Michiru had. "Come on, we have a long day ahead of us."

**x x x  
**

The party scene was the same as always. People filled the large building, loud music bounced off of the walls and overpowered all other sounds, lights flashed in different colors, screens showed fast cars. Michiru had been apprehensive about coming back here tonight, she wasn't sure how she would behave back in the underworld and she was honestly afraid to lose everything she had gained in the past month.

She was wearing tight jeans and a simple black sweater that showed one of her shoulders. It was much more tasteful than her previous outfits, but it didn't put her out of place in the crowd. Her hair fell freely down her back, reaching past her shoulder blades, her face had only light traces of makeup. She looked to her right as Haruka squeezed her hand gently, in reassurance, as though she knew what Michiru was thinking about. Haruka herself looked very handsome in her jeans and brown shirt, a black sports coat adding the needed extra layer. Michiru smiled at the blonde and nodded her thanks.

Haruka wasn't racing tonight because her car was drying at the shop, so she volunteered to do Hiro's job and let him race for a change. She was setting up, Michiru standing shyly by the side of the table, when an ear-piercing squeal made both of them cringe. "Michi! You're back! Where have you been? Oh, I've missed you!"

Michiru found herself being hugged by an overly enthusiastic young woman. "Hi, Chi, how are you?" Michiru smiled back as the black-haired girl disconnected herself from her long lost friend.

"Good, good, come on, let's dance." She pulled on Michiru's hand with unexpected force and Michiru looked at Haruka, unsure.

Haruka only winked at her in return and went back to loading the software. Michiru followed Chi out to where people were already dancing, joining some of the people she knew. After declining three offers for drinks and dancing for what seemed like an eternity, she was pulled once again, this time towards a more shadowy area of the building. It took Michiru one glance to realize that she was being pulled back to the 'bar,' only alcohol wasn't served here; other hallucinogens were. The blonde girl who brought her there let go of her hand and bounced happily towards the few people who were sitting on the floor, passing a small stash of money rolled together and held by a rubber band, and getting a small bag with white powdery substance in return. Michiru all but felt her hands starting to shake, her mouth go dry, and her legs go numb. She found herself moving towards the group when her brain finally pulled through the haze and she turned, running in the opposite direction. She pushed people aside as she made it back to the security table, finding Haruka there and throwing herself at the blonde without another thought.

"I need a distraction," she forced out before her lips connected to Haruka's in a hungry kiss, her hands getting lost in the silvery white strands, while Haruka's hands wrapped around Michiru's waist. Desire shot through both women as they fought for dominance. Haruka stumbled upon a chair that was right behind her and took a seat, Michiru straddling her in the process. Haruka's hands slid down to Michiru's hips, bringing them closer to her own, filling the palms of her hands with Michiru's buttocks. She completely and utterly lost herself in the smaller woman, her job and dozens of people around them forgotten in the moment.

They both were so far gone that they didn't notice as people stopped moving, then talking… the track ended and the DJ didn't put another… everything but the two women by the security table just froze.

**x x x  
**

What Haruka and Michiru failed to notice was a red Ferrari F430 entering through the open garage door and parking in a row of the night's racing contenders. Few old-timers, including Hiro, knew the car painfully well and stopped what they were doing as it entered, rolling slowly through the crowd of moving people. Others became curious at the reaction and watched as the driver's door opened and a man stepped out.

He was dressed in a perfectly-tailored suit that showcased his broad shoulders and narrowed to his waist. He wore Italian shoes and a black t-shirt, which seemed to be a rather odd combination. People stepped aside as he walked towards the security table, four burly men followed in his tow.

"I see you haven't changed, Tenoh," he said in an overly sweet low voice.

Haruka froze instantly, the heat of her desire washed away with something worse than a bucket of ice water over her head. Michiru opened her eyes and jumped off of the blonde, realizing that they were now at the center of attention. Haruka slowly got up and took a step in front of Michiru in a protective gesture. Her rigid spine, the hardened features of her face and her slowed breathing let Michiru know that something was terribly wrong, so she peaked at the man in a suit from behind Haruka. He had black hair and black eyes, his posture relaxed, his face in a confident sneer.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Wada? I hear you're a big boy now, what brings you to the playground?" Her voice showed nothing that Michiru detected in Haruka's posture and the violinist wondered if everyone else noticed Haruka's reaction or if it was just her.

"Cocky as always, Tenoh."

Michiru watched the two play a staring contest and figured that she was, indeed, the only one who saw beyond the arrogant facade her girlfriend created.

"And you still have no taste in clothing, Wada."

The man just laughed as he unbuttoned his jacket and took it off, exposing his muscled arms that were covered in colorful tattoos from his wrists up. Michiru, as well as few other people present gasped, realizing who they may be dealing with.

"Is that better, Tenoh?"

Haruka chose to ignore the question and his little show. "Why are you here?"

"I'm racing tonight," the man stated confidently.

"Don't think so," Haruka replied evenly.

The man smiled. "Oh, you don't have to think."

"You're not a part of this club." Haruka didn't move as the man approached slowly.

"I am as of last night." He turned his attention to the smaller woman beside Haruka. "Wada Ichiro, and you are?" He bowed to Michiru and watched with interest as Haruka's arm wrapped around the woman's middle, pushing her further behind the racer.

"None of your concern," Haruka growled.

Ichiro smirked as he looked back to Haruka. "Anyone as beautiful as she is of concern to me."

Haruka's eyes narrowed into thin slits. "She is under my protection, you will not come near her… ever."

Ichiro's brows rose high to his forehead. "Is that a threat, Tenoh?"

"It is," Haruka affirmed in the same indifferent tone she had been using all along.

"Interesting. The mighty Tenoh Haruka has succumbed to a weakness… I'm sure Yasu would get a kick out of that."

Michiru felt Haruka's hand twitch, but otherwise the blonde showed no reaction to Ichiro's words. "What do you mean you're a member of the club again?" Haruka pressed.

"Ahh, Sanu forgot to mention to you? We traded a favor for a favor. He needed help and apparently it trumped your interests… so we're back. Lucky you, Yasu's out of town for a while." Something alike a shadow passed through the man's face before he continued. "You know, I do find it quite upsetting that you let her get between you and I… I used to really like you, you know."

"Was that before or after you lost your honor to me in a bet?" Haruka shot back.

Ichiro laughed. "I lost a car, Haruka, not my honor. I'd never lose my honor to a girl."

Michiru heard few people in the crowd wince, apparently she wasn't the only one who confused Haruka's gender. "I clearly remember you saying that you wouldn't lose a race to a girl either. That's what got you in trouble in the first place."

Ichiro reached out and caressed Haruka's cheek. "See, I do miss you."

Haruka caught his wrist with her free hand and found that she was surrounded by three men with guns. She cocked an eyebrow. "If you don't want to lose your newly reacquired membership, call the goons off… the safety rules are still in place."

Ichiro signaled for his men to retreat and Haruka let go of his wrist. "Where's Sanu?"

Ichiro sighed. "Probably picking up the pieces of his girlfriend."

"Hiro, you're in charge. If you need anything, call someone else." Haruka grabbed Michiru's arm and pulled her towards the blue Acura she was driving for the night.

"Haruka?" Michiru turned to her as soon as the car door shut closed.

"I don't know, but we'll find out."

Michiru watched in silence as Haruka checked an application on her phone, locating the two GPS signals before she pulled out of the parking spot and sped towards the city.

**x x x  
**

Daiki was in his apartment, going through all the information he had received from numerous sources, trying to find something that would help him find Sayuri. Hopefully, alive. A tiny noise in the key whole of his front door made him turn his head and he jumped up from the sofa as his front door flew open, broken chain link swinging like a pendulum. His eyes darted to the coffee table where his gun lay, but he didn't get a chance to move when he stared in the barrel of one pointed directly in his face.

"What the fuck?" he growled.

"Yes, what the fuck?" Haruka stepped closer, never taking her eyes off of the man or lowering the gun.

"Kid, calm down." He noticed from the corner of his eye as another woman made her way in. She calmly walked up and picked up the gun from the table, retreating back to the door and closing it shut.

"Don't you 'kid' me, you son of a bitch." Haruka stood her ground.

"I had no other choice."

"There is always another choice," Haruka spat back, not bothering to rein in her anger.

"They had her, Haruka, they_ have_ Say. They were going to send her to me in pieces. They already sent her ear."

"Stop fucking around, Sanu, it's me you're talking to. You didn't give a shit that they threatened her, you did nothing. You were just afraid they would come after you next, you scum."

Daiki looked around the room for an escape route before his eyes found the cold gray ones. "I needed to take care of it and it was the only way. I do care about her."

"If you cared about _her_, you would've come to me. I would've helped, but it wasn't enough, you needed to get rid of Oono, so you called Wada?

"He was the only one who could help," Daiki insisted.

"Sanu, you didn't just disregard Say's life, you fucked me to get rid of someone you chose to deal with. As far as I'm concerned, we're done. I owe you nothing."

"You're not gonna kill me," Daiki snorted.

"I almost killed her, and I give a lot of a shit more about her than I do about you." Haruka gestured to Michiru, who was watching the exchange in silence.

Daiki swallowed as he considered, for the first time in ten years, that he actually pushed Haruka enough for her to turn on him. It was strange that in the process of trying to protect her, in addition to protecting himself, he pushed her away. In the end, Oono did do his job, even from the other side of hell: he stole both women from Daiki. "I need to find Say, kid."

Haruka's eyes narrowed as she lowered the gun. "No, you don't. You won't find her and you will never come near her again. I'm cutting her wings and letting her go."

"You'd need to know where she is for that," Daiki said, a sad note in his tone.

"I do know where she is." Haruka pulled a small white phone out of her pocket. "I also know that you were played because she has both of her ears in one place."

Haruka put her gun behind her belt and walked to the door, grabbing Daiki's gun from Michiru's slightly shaking hands.

"You knew? You hid her? She's fine?" There was anger in his voice now.

Haruka turned to face him again. "Yes, I did… and so would you if you came to family with your problems instead of screwing the only person who gave a shit."

Haruka took the magazine out of Daiki's gun and threw both pieces in the opposite directions, walking out of the door with Michiru without another word or a glance.

**x x x  
**

Sayuri was sitting on top of a bed in a small guest room of a tea house she came to visit. She had never been so afraid in her life and the past five days made her reconsider her lifestyle, along with many other things. She left her office that Monday shortly after Haruka's departure, taking the first taxi available and making only one stop at the bank. She took as much cash as she had in one of her savings accounts, stuck it in her bag and kept cab-hopping around Tokyo for hours, leaving her phone in one of the random taxi's, until she was sure that she hadn't been followed. She was too afraid to contact any of her family members or friends, she didn't want to put any of them in danger. In the afternoon she found herself at the train station and took the first departing train, barely jumping on board on time. That action did make her feel better, as she doubted that anyone could have followed her here.

Just to make sure, she changed two more trains before arriving in the middle of nowhere and finding a quiet tea house that was open to very few guests. The small building was situated in a wooded area, next to a small pond. It was remote and very picturesque. Under any other circumstances Sayuri would have thought that she found a gem and truly enjoyed her stay. In her current situation, she simply hid inside the room, leaving it only to use the bathroom and take some food from the owners.

It was the middle of Friday night, but she couldn't sleep. She kept having nightmares about the possibilities of someone finding her and doing all kinds of terrible things that she was sure _they _were capable of, whoever _they_ were. She literally jumped off the mattress she was sitting on at the vibrating sound that came from the white device next to a power outlet. She grabbed the phone with a shaking hand and brought it to her ear.

"_Say."_

"Haruka!" She sighed in relief.

"_You're no longer in danger, but I would reconsider your life choices. As of immediately, your wings have been cut. I've also happened to visit Osaka not too long ago… I think it wouldn't be a bad place to move to. They're in dire need of emergency room doctors._"

"Only when you visit." The feelings that overwhelmed her and the lack of sleep made Sayuri jab the blonde.

"_Ouch_." Haruka on the other end of the line visibly flinched from the statement. _"I save your life and you repay me like this?_"

"Sorry, I've been a bit on the edge."

"_Understandable_." A small pause hang over the line. "_Keep this phone and call me if you ever need something, although I hope to never hear from you again_."

"Likewise." Another pause. "And Haruka?"

"_Yes_?"

"Thank you."

"_We're even."_

Sayuri hang up the phone and shut it off. She pinched herself to make sure that she was awake and that her nightmare was truly over. Osaka didn't sound bad, although Sayuri still didn't know how long it would take her to reconnect with anybody she knew. She lay back down and pulled the sheets over herself, her light brown eyes staring into the ceiling. "I owe you one, Tenoh Haruka."


	20. Old Habits

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 20**

**Old Habits**

Eiko stood by the off-white door, her hand on a brass handle, contemplating her next move. It was the end of January and she had not seen her daughter since she brought her to Haruka's house a month and a half ago. It killed her not to know how Michiru was, it killed her not to be near her, she just couldn't do it anymore. When Eiko opened the front door and found Sanu Daiki standing on the steps, Michiru across his shoulder, she had to gather all of her strength to thank him politely and watch him leave after depositing Michiru on the living room couch.

Eiko knew exactly how bad things were when she saw the abused veins, when she saw the state Michiru was in. She had seen it before; not the needle marks, the far gone state of someone she loved dearly. The memories of her husband flooded her vision and she lost it. Eiko couldn't deal with it, she didn't know what to do. Last time she tried to deal with an addiction, she lost miserably and that was with a person who supposedly loved her. Michiru was her daughter and her love would never be of the same kind, nor would it be of the same strength as her late husband's, so what was she supposed to do? Eiko did the only thing that came to mind - she took Michiru to Haruka.

As she reflected on the events of that night later, she seriously doubted her sanity at the time. She knew nothing about the racer, not beyond the few obvious facts, and those were in no way a good basis to form any kind of trust or positive opinion. Eiko had to physically restrain herself from going back and taking Michiru away for two reasons: one, she would still have the same dilemma of dealing with her drug-addicted daughter; and two, she was intimidated by the racer and took her threats seriously. So she sent a suitcase with Jun, like Haruka had instructed, and drowned in her own misery in the confines of the mansion.

She used to visit Michiru's room a lot in the first week, as though her daughter's things would bring them closer, but then she just shied away from the room as though it was a mausoleum. What was the point of going there anyway? It wasn't like Michiru would walk through the door.

So now Eiko was standing by that same door, holding the handle and wondering if she should go in and what the point was. Her hand finally made the move and the blonde entered the empty room. Her tired eyes traveled over the familiar surroundings, until they came to rest on an empty chair. Last time Eiko visited, that chair had a violin sitting on top. The woman brushed past the door and walked straight to the closet. Her light blue eyes widened as she saw the half-empty shelves. Her heart was pounding in her ears and her hands shook slightly. What was that supposed to mean?

**x x x  
**

Eiko's Lexus turned into the quiet street and she stopped across from the small house. She wondered, not for the first time, why Haruka's house looked so much simpler and, in her view, cheaper than the ones surrounding it. It occurred to her that the house was probably too small for two people, which led her to other, not so pleasant, thoughts. She opened the gate and walked up the narrow path. She took a deep breath before knocking on the large metal door. There was no sound coming out and no response. Eiko knocked again, wondering if anyone was home, but her watch showed seven in the morning, so she doubted that Haruka left the house already.

After a third hard knock the door swung open violently and a disheveled blonde scowled at the visitor, before her eyes took in who it was and her scowl was complemented with a low growl. "What are you doing here?"

Eiko swallowed, trying to look past Haruka and failing to do so. She looked back at the blonde clad in a tank top and sweatpants, goosebumps clearly visible on her long toned arms. "I need to see my daughter."

"It's fucking seven in the morning." Haruka shut the door closed and turned to be met face to face with Michiru, who was dressed similar to Haruka.

Michiru raised a questioning eyebrow.

"It's fucking seven in the morning!" Haruka repeated, only with an almost pleading tone this time.

"You get up before six every day," Michiru pointed out, an amused expression on her face.

"Not on a Saturday!" Haruka hissed. "And I had a bad night last night. I deserve that sleep."

Michiru nodded in agreement, but walked to the kitchen. "I'll make you coffee."

"UHHHH!" Haruka's sigh turned into another low growl as she turned back to the door and flung it open again.

Eiko was standing with her back to the door, wondering how long she would have to wait for the blonde or Michiru to walk out of the house when she felt a swoosh of air behind herself and turned to see Haruka, her features even more frightening than the first time, standing in the open door.

"Get the hell in, it's freezing!"

Eiko leapt inside before Haruka changed her mind, although that may not have been the best idea considering the racer's mood. Eiko stood rooted to the ground as the door closed behind her, taking the view in. She never actually looked around the first and last time she was here, so she noted with surprise that the ground level had a completely open plan. That discovery was soon forgotten as her eyes settled on the young sea green-haired woman who was taking a full espresso cup from the small stainless steel machine on the kitchen conter. Michiru turned around and greeted her mother with a questioning eyebrow and lack of any other emotion.

Eiko watched in stunned silence as Haruka walked up to Michiru and accepted the offered cup, sitting down on one of the two stools by the kitchen island. Michiru herself walked to one of the chairs and grabbed a plush throw, wrapping it around her shoulders. She made her way back to the machine and started on another espresso. Both of them effectively ignored their visitor.

Eiko shifted her weight from one foot to another before she decided to take her coat and shoes off and approach the odd… couple. Michiru felt her mother approach more than she saw her, but she turned around all the same. "Coffee?"

Eiko nodded, smiling gratefully. Michiru handed her the espresso she just made and walked around the island. "Sit down." She pointed to the other stool.

Eiko took the offered furniture and moved it as far away from Haruka as she could, ending up at the opposite corner of the island. She sat down and pulled the small cup closer, taking in the taste of its bitter liquid. She put it down just in time not to choke at her daughter's next actions.

Michiru walked up to Haruka, who parted her legs and pulled the violinist between them, Michiru's back resting against Haruka's chest. Haruka wrapped her arms around the smaller woman, extending her the small cup and setting her chin on top of the soft blanket covering Michiru's right shoulder. Michiru accepted the cup and sipped on the liquid, relaxing into the embrace as Haruka's hands latched on her stomach.

"What's going on?" Eiko finally forced out, watching the too picture-perfect couple in front of her.

"What are you doing here?" Haruka ignored the question as her still sleepy eyes settled on the light blue ones of the woman in front of her.

"I was worried," Eiko answered, her gaze shifting to her daughter's face. "How are you feeling?"

"It took you a month and a half to get worried?" Michiru asked evenly.

"Of course not. You know how much I love you, I've been worried sick this whole time."

"Couldn't really tell." Michiru passed the cup back to Haruka. "You see, I've been going through hell and the loving mother I was brought to was nowhere near to save me from it."

"You're being cruel." Eiko blinked away the stinging sensation in her eyes.

"No. I'm being honest… for once. You know how many hours I spent locked in a room, sick and wanting to die? I needed you then, but you were nowhere near."

"You locked her in a room?" Eiko stared at the blonde who swallowed the dark liquid and put her chin back on its temporary resting post.

"That and more," Haruka replied indifferently.

"What the hell did you do to my daughter?" Eiko hissed.

"It's not what she did, it's what you didn't," came Michiru's cold response. "You just dumped me on a stranger's footstep. What kind of mother are you?"

Eiko snorted. "You don't seem to be minding where you are. In fact, I noticed you moved in."

Michiru's lips turned into a thin line. "Stop being a child, mother! You need to grow up, I've been telling you this for years. Don't deflect. You keep saying that you've been taking care of me, but the first time I actually need you to do so, you dumped me here!"

Haruka took the cup out of Michiru's shaky hand and placed it on the counter. She wrapped her hands around the slim waist again and brought Michiru even closer, as though she was trying to protect her girlfriend from the memories of the bad things she herself inflicted upon her. _'Some logic, Tenoh,'_ Haruka's waking mind chastised her.

"I had no choice!" Eiko's voice broke into a shout as her eyes watered again.

"There's always a choice." Michiru borrowed Haruka's words from the night before. "You could have dealt with it. You could have helped me."

"I was afraid to lose you too!" The tears finally broke free and ran down Eiko's face.

Haruka felt Michiru stiffen in her arms and stifled a sigh. It wasn't her place to get in the middle of this conversation.

"As far as I'm concerned, you did."

Eiko flinched from the indifference in her daughter's voice. "Michi… I…" A sob escaped her before she tried again. "I… I'm so… so sor… sorry." Her voice left her as her sobs became uncontrollable and she covered her face with the palms of her hands.

"That's cold," Haruka whispered in Michiru's ear.

Michiru put her hands on top of Haruka's and turned to whisper back. "Says you?"

Haruka smiled as Michiru turned back. The ear was too enticing, so Haruka nibbled on the earlobe before replying in the hushed tone again. "You're not me."

Michiru fought a smile that threatened to appear at the corner of her mouth. She watched her mother cry for another couple of minutes before her heart finally took over her resolve. "Mother." She waited for Eiko to move her hands away, wiping some of the tears. "What I meant to say is that you lost me because I'm not coming back. I'm staying with Haruka."

Eiko's face temporarily served as a running track, the emotions speeding through like horses. Haruka almost wanted to bet with Michiru on which one would settle in her mother's face in the end, but she just didn't have enough time. Utter shock was supplemented by a nicely open jaw and wide eyes. Then her mouth closed, her expression was wiped and Eiko took control of herself. "You can't."

Now it was Haruka's time to stiffen. Michiru felt it and rubbed the racer's hand gently with her thumb. "Humor me. Why's that?"

"Because you have a life, Michi. You have a career, you have a family name to uphold."

Michiru could not for the life of her contain the ungraceful snort that escaped her. "I have a life thanks to her, not to you. The life you've given me I've taken away a month and a half ago. My new life is not going to be wasted on false pretenses. There is nothing preventing me from giving occasional concerts and I don't see how any of this affects my name."

"She's gay, Michiru."

"Um… yeah, so am I if you haven't figured it out yet, mother." Michiru was amused by the ridiculousness of her mother's argument.

"Honey, you can't date a woman out in the open, not with your name," Eiko tried to reason.

"I don't give a shit. I don't care about the name. Not anymore," Michiru replied honestly.

"Michi -"

"We're done." Michiru brought her hand up in the air to stop her mother from talking. "I'm not changing my mind. I'm not shunning you away from my life, but I will if you make me."

Eiko swallowed everything else she had to say, that seemed to be a normal occurrence since she met the racer. She looked at the quiet blonde and raised a manicured brow. "Is this your way of paying me back?"

Haruka snickered. "Eiko, I don't care enough about you to move my finger. I am, however, keeping your daughter. I've grown quite used to her presence, which, by the way, was your choice, not mine." She looked in the clear blues again and her features returned to what they had been at the door when she first flung it open. "So deal with it."

Eiko nodded absentmindedly as her mind processed the irony of how her actions finally came full circle to bite her in the bottom. She wanted Michiru to have some fun and unwind, well she got that and then she lost her daughter to someone she didn't know, was clearly intimidated by, didn't trust in the slightest, and that someone was a woman. What did Eiko think when she set up that date? She tried to remember if she had anything stronger than alcohol that night, but she hadn't. It was all her, no excuse of being under the influence. Her eyes focused on the couple in front of her again. She personally didn't care who her daughter dated gender wise, she herself had done both, but there was dating and then there was _dating_. She knew Michiru was obsessed with the blonde, that was what she played on when she brought her to Haruka, hoping that it would help her pull through, she didn't expect Haruka to return any kind of feelings back. Besides, obsession wasn't a good basis for any relationship. Eiko truly wished for her only child to be happy, she just wasn't sure Michiru was. She may have felt that she was, but was she?

"You never crossed me as someone who gets in a serious relationship, Haruka." That was the polite way of stating the obvious.

"I'm full of surprises." Haruka's dangerous expression didn't change.

"Michi, you have a crush, an obsession, it's not a good foundation for a relationship."

Michiru's face momentarily contorted in the same angry mask Haruka was wearing before Michiru pushed it away and it became indifferent again. "I _had_ an obsession, true, but I'm way past that point, mother. You know, things happen when you go to hell and back… You can't really obsess about someone you hate."

"That's not what it looks like to me," Eiko said quietly.

"I'm not in hell anymore," Michiru replied.

Eiko gave them another long look before giving up and getting up. "I hope for your sake that whatever it is you two have will work out. I'm glad you're feeling better… and I'm sorry."

Michiru watched as her mother picked up her shoes and her coat, putting them on and as she headed for the door. Part of Michiru wanted to reach out, embrace the woman, tell her that everything would be fine, another part was still mad at Eiko for the way she had acted. Seeing how she was comfortable in the strong embrace, Michiru decided to stay put. "Mother."

Eiko paused before exiting the house and looked back at her daughter.

"I do have a cell phone you could have called. You are welcome to do so in the future."

Eiko nodded and a small smile lightened up her tired features.

They both watched as the door closed shut behind the sad figure in silence. Haruka wiggled her arms, bringing the warm blanket that surrounded her girlfriend closer, and hid her face in the nook between Michiru's neck and her shoulder. It felt so… good. "I'm going back to bed," she announced into the warm porcelain skin.

"You already had coffee!"

"SO?" Haruka peaked at the clock on the wall. "It's not even eight and I don't like today anyway. Might as well sleep through as much of it as I can." She set her feet on the ground and pushed the chair backwards, giving a small kiss to the spot her face was resting on. "You can come with me or stay freezing here."

Michiru turned around and watched the blonde walk up to the stairs. "I have a blanket."

"I need a pillow." Haruka disappeared from the view.

The double meaning didn't escape Michiru and she smiled happily before walking to the door to lock it. After some thought, she decided to put the alarm on as well. Last night unnerved her quite a bit, despite her good attempt at hiding it. Michiru's finger reached the stainless panel and pressed the illuminated buttons… 2...7…0...1… Her finger hovered over the next digit before she quickly typed it in, followed by another three. Why did she never notice this before? The last four digits were the year Michiru was born, the first four were today's date. That couldn't be, could it?

'_That would make her my age, it can't be. Can it?'_ A deep frown creased Michiru's features as she made her way downstairs, discarding the warm fabric on the way. Haruka was hiding under a pile of blankets as Michiru reached the room, so the violinist dove in under the covers and came on top of the blonde.

"Good girl." Haruka wrapped her arms around Michiru's torso and pulled her up so that they were face to face.

"Haruka?"

"Hmmm?" Haruka was inspecting the luscious lips that hovered over her own.

"When is your birthday?"

Midnight blues shot up to the mischievous ocean blues. "Why?"

"Well, don't you think it's something your girlfriend should know?" Michiru's voice acquired a seductive note as her index finger traced the outline of Haruka's face.

"Nope." Haruka silenced Michiru by capturing the inviting lips. She enjoyed the smooth texture underneath her mouth before her tongue slipped inside, dancing with one of the owner. She felt sharp teeth nudge on her bottom lip and a moan escaped her as desire shot through her body, forcing her to tighten the embrace and bring the lithe body closer. Her hands traveled down Michiru's back, slipping inside the elastic band of her yoga pants and covering the perfectly shaped cheeks. Their hips came together, arching in an attempt to get closer. Haruka heard a low moan come out of her girlfriend's throat as she massaged the flesh with her long fingers, her thumbs moving towards the hip bone.

Michiru's hands traveled down the sides, finding the bottom of Haruka's tank top; she tugged on the soft material, moving her own torso upwards to allow the unwanted piece of clothing to be removed. Haruka accommodated her motion and was soon rewarded by a swirl of velvet tongue around one of her exposed nipples. She moaned as the teasing continued, Michiru sucking on each of the perky pinks in turn. As the sensation at the bottom of her stomach intensified, Haruka flipped the smaller woman on her back and freed her hands, taking the t-shirt Michiru was wearing off in one motion. Their naked breasts collided as Haruka's mouth covered Michiru's neck, traveling up the jawline and towards the slightly parted mouth. Michiru's hands were already working on removing the sweatpants from the long legs, her own feet helping to achieve her goal.

"Crafty," Haruka breathed into her mouth, making Michiru smile.

Haruka pulled away sharply and removed the yoga pants, not wasting any time on some gymnastic moves. Their heated bodies came back together, hands re-learning the shapes they used to know. Haruka's clouded mind registered the changes to the lithe body below her, the regular meals and the in-house gym that Michiru took advantage of made all the difference in comparison to the skeletal woman Haruka carried out of the car almost two months ago. The racer lost track of her thoughts as a hand sneaked its way between their bodies and slid between her thighs, fingers brushing against her wetness. She forgot about breathing as Michiru's mouth travelled to her collarbone, while violinist's fingers stroked against her desire. She let Michiru get on top with a sharp intake of breath as one of the fingers entered her sex, shortly followed by another. Michiru's lips made their painfully slow descent down Haruka's body as the racer's fingers tangled in the long sea-green locks. The only thing that Haruka could think about at that particular moment in time was how much she missed having sex... in general and with the woman on top of her in particular.

Michiru made her way all the way down to her destination, barely able to control herself enough to slow down. Her fingers moved in and out of Haruka as she tasted the musky sweetness of her lover, her tongue slipping over the hardened bud. She knew they both were on the verge, abstinence and the undeniable attraction making it hard to prolong the excitement. She felt Haruka start to stiffen and smiled, right before she moved her mouth away and slid up to face the racer, brushing their heated bodies against each other on the way. Her fingers left the warm wetness and she found herself looking into midnight blue eyes full of disappointment. A dissatisfied grunt escaped the racer as she stared into the ocean blue eyes of the biggest tease she had ever met.

"When's your birthday?" Michiru bit Haruka's chin gently, her eyes never leaving the blues.

"Huh?" Haruka was trying to jumpstart her brain, unsuccessfully.

Michiru's hand made its way back between the soft folds, making Haruka buckle her hips upwards. Michiru's tongue traveled from the base of the racer's neck up to the same spot on the chin she bit before. "When's your birthday, Ruka?"

"Doesn't matter," Haruka breathed out as the desire built itself back to the previous intensity, threatening to overspill at any moment.

Michiru stopped her ministrations again. "It does if you want me to continue."

Haruka's eyes narrowed. "You fucking extortionist!"

Michiru smiled evilly and moved her fingers again, making pleasure spread through the irritated blonde, until they stopped.

"Today," Haruka growled and closed her eyes, putting her head deeper into the pillow.

Michiru smiled and ducked back down, her fingers slipping back inside, her tongue continuing its previous sweet torture, only allowing the release this time around. As Haruka's body contorted in delightful spasms, Michiru made her way back up, kissing the blonde deeply. "Happy Birthday, Ruka." She covered the lips again, not letting Haruka respond. Michiru yelped in surprise as she was thrown off the top of the body she thought was still coming to its senses. Haruka stared down at her from the top, leaning over the violinist, supporting herself on all fours.

"Time for payback, mermaid." Malicious intent clearly shone in her midnight blue eyes.

**x x x  
**

Michiru was a lot less apprehensive about coming to the party scene the next Friday, knowing that if there ever was an overwhelming desire to score again, she had a perfect drug she could satisfy herself with, and it had nothing to do with controlled substances. It had everything to do with a certain tall blonde drag racer. No drug could bring her as much satisfaction and euphoria as an orgasm given to her by her girlfriend or one she gave to her girlfriend could.

Tonight was a street race, which had all kinds of implications, and Michiru stood on the sideline, watching Haruka, Hiro and some other club members set up the security post and go over the last minute details. The police was on the lookout as much as ever and no one wanted to get caught, but no one seemed to be fazed either. Michiru watched with some caution as red Lamborghini came into view, parking next to the gray Enzo. Daiki, dressed as usual, slowly walked up to the security post and looked over what was going on.

Not surprisingly, he was completely ignored by the blonde, while others gave him a quick update. He nodded and watched Haruka in thought before his eyes met Michiru's. He held her gaze, but then looked away first, finding a distraction in the form of a fast-approaching Ferrari. It was going to be one long ride before he got back anywhere near Haruka's good graces, if ever.

Michiru watched as Ichiro got out of his car, his clothing not any different from what he had been wearing the week before, despite them being outside in the first week of February. He strode down the street, towards the table where now all participants seemed to be gathering. Interestingly, he came up behind Haruka and looked at the screen she was working with over her shoulder.

"Fuck off, Wada," she hissed without bothering to look behind, almost as though she could feel his presence without having to look.

Ichiro wasn't at all bothered by the greeting. He took a step back and lit a cigarette that he produced from one of his pockets, watching what Haruka was doing in silence and exhaling the smoke into the cool air.

Haruka checked the locations of the police cars one last time before turning the computer towards Hiro, who was sitting in a chair to her right, and turning around. She was met with a sight of Daiki leaning against the closest car parked to her left and Ichiro standing to her right, smoking in silence. "You've got to be fucking me."

Both men looked at each other before they broke into bolts of laughter. "We don't fuck dykes, Tenoh." Daiki's eyes were still gleaming as he crossed his hands over his chest.

"I don't know, Sanu, I could imagine her looking pretty hot in some leather corset and tall boots, don't you think?" Ichiro asked as he inhaled again.

"See, I find the possibility of you two fucking each other a lot more believable than me wearing that," Haruka replied levelly. She earned an identical scowl from both men for her trouble and smirked.

"Come on, admit you're happy to see me." Ichiro threw the remainder of the cigarette away and took another one out.

"Do I look insane?" Haruka raised a brow.

"You know you'll enjoy the race a lot more with both of us here," Ichiro pointed out.

"That would've never been a problem if you didn't bring Yasu here in the first place," Haruka pointed out, leaning against the table behind her.

Ichiro grimaced. "You know how she is."

Haruka snorted. "My point exactly."

Ichiro shrugged. "She's in China for a while, so relax."

"Not far enough." Haruka looked at her watch and waved for the other drivers to get in their cars. "Moon would not be far enough for that psycho."

Ichiro grabbed her upper arm as she was passing him. "Don't forget who you're talking about."

Haruka just gave him a toothy confident smile. She forced her arm out of his grip and walked up to Michiru, who was silently watching the exchange. Grays met blues and Haruka gave her a small peck on the lips. "Wish me luck."

Michiru smiled. "You don't need luck."

Haruka smiled genially back. "No, I don't."

Michiru watched as the three walked to their super cars and followed the other racers to the start line. The route for the night's race started at one end of the block currently populated by the observers and ended on the other, coming full circle. Michiru made her way to the security booth and took a chair next to Hiro, ignoring his questioning look. She watched as he switched live cams to show the start line, checked on the location of the police and gave an okay to someone at the start line over the walkie. A girl in tight pants and a racing jacket brought the checkered flags up in the air and lowered them on a cue, bringing almost a dozen cars in motion.

Michiru observed everything Hiro did, simultaneously watching the race on one of the large screens. Five cars quickly made their way forward, leaving the other ones behind. The competition was more fierce than Michiru could remember before, drivers cutting dangerously close to each other and taking extremely sharp turns.

"So, Sanu is a cop…" Michiru grabbed Hiro's attention. "What are the other members of the club?"

Hiro glanced at her momentarily before returning to the screen. "Anyone from doctors to politicians, businessmen, and… yakuza."

It was so naive of the violinist to think in the beginning that the racers were some low-class street people. She was starting to learn that there were people from all walks of life, connected through the common interest in this illegal activity. "So Wada is… is he...?"

Hiro looked at her again. "Yakuza? Yeah, he is."

"He was a club member before?"

Hiro shook his head. "He was one of the Wings."

"What happened?" Michiru saw as three cars pulled forward, almost bumper to bumper, trying to fit along side each other on a narrow road.

Hiro sighed. "There was some stuff between him and Tenoh, you should ask her about it. She cut his wings off and he left. We haven't seen him in a while. He's the head of his clan now."

Michiru processed the information. One of the phrases Hiro used caught her attention. _'Cut his wings off…'_ She looked at the red-headed man again. "Was Abe Sayuri one of the Wings?"

Hiro looked at her in surprise. "Was? Is."

Michiru didn't reply. If Haruka hadn't shared this information with Hiro yet, it wasn't her place to do so. She looked at the screen instead and saw that the cars were approaching a bridge at the beginning of the street they were on. It was very narrow and only one car would fit, so it was a deciding factor for the three racers that were still going side by side. The gray Enzo was in the middle, surrounded by the two red cars. Michiru watched, her heart racing, as the cars fought for dominance, trying to get in the space of the bridge ahead. The gray Ferrari pulled forward smoothly as the two other drivers hit the breaks, avoiding collision with the iron rails of the bridge. By a narrow margin the Lamborghini cut in front of the red Ferrari and entered the bridge, scraping the rear bumper on the iron surface.

The Enzo came through the finish line, tires screeching as it came to a halt. The two red cars followed, both sliding to a graceful stop next to the Enzo. Haruka left her car and was immediately surrounded by girls, hanging off of her neck and upper extremities. Michiru was heading towards the winner when she saw the small sea of wanton girls, Haruka's arms around their waists, their lips on Haruka's neck. Michiru froze to the spot, an internal battle raging inside. On one hand she knew no one was as close to Haruka as she was, on the other, if she was her girlfriend, what the hell was she doing with all those other girls? She felt the sour taste of jealousy in her mouth as her mind kept trying to reason over her heart.

"She's always been like that, you know?" an overly sweet low voice whispered into her ear from close proximity.

Michiru turned around and almost jumped at the sight of Ichiro standing mere inches away. He smiled knowingly and grabbed her chin between his thumb and index finger. "You deserve someone better than her. Someone who will value you and see no one but you."

Michiru's ego cheered at the words, taking the pom poms out, ready to fuel her jealousy with a cheerleader dance, but her sober logic took over like an angry coach and brought everything inside back in order. "And who would that be? You?"

Her voice was as sweet as Ichiro's, but with a steely undertone. His dark eyes danced as he chuckled. "No. She and I are made of the same clay."

"Of course you are." Michiru's disarming smile slipped off as she watched him near slowly, sparkle still in his eyes. Her own eyes shifted over his shoulder and at the approaching blonde.

Ichiro was about to take a tasting of the beautiful goddess when he felt firm pressure below his cerebellum, temporarily disabling him from any further movement. Through the searing white pain he saw Michiru's smile come back as the woman took a step away from him.

"I told you not to get near her." The words were low, but they reached him even through the pain. He didn't even notice as Haruka removed her hand and stepped away, joining her girlfriend. The nauseating feeling finally passed and Ichiro felt the ability to move return to him. His hand shot up to the back of his neck, massaging the spot as his angry eyes darted to the two women.

"Don't fuck with me, Tenoh."

"Likewise," Haruka replied levelly.

An electric current passed between the two before Ichiro yielded. "Fine. I'll leave that to Yasu."

The victory that shone in his eyes didn't escape either woman as he turned and walked back to his car, his hand still rubbing the back of the neck.


	21. Belong to Me

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 21**

**Belong to Me**

After another week of following Haruka around like a puppy on a leash Michiru realized that it started to bore her. Sure being close to her object of affection was very satisfying, it was the waiting that put her down. Gradually she started doing other things, like skipping some of the errands Haruka had to run and doing her own thing; then she stopped going to the shop, where she wasN't allowed to go beyond the salon either way. All together, she limited herself to seeing Haruka nights through mornings and the weekends.

As the end of February neared, Michiru felt like pulling her hair out. She was sitting in one of the chairs she only found comfortable for the first fifteen minutes and watching the reflection of the sun in the ripples of the bay. Checking the time for the seventh time in the past five minutes, she wondered how much longer her current activity would occupy her. Obviously not long enough. Michiru sighed and got up.

**x x x  
**

Haruka was going through the correspondence that populated her inbox overnight, while simultaneously checking statistics for the races over the past month. To her relief, she could finally look into the business matters without feeling bad about leaving Michiru outside, away from her office. Despite the relationship they had developed, despite the sharing of the past and all the powerful feelings they seemed to be experiencing, Haruka's heart simply couldn't take over her mind. One could never be too careful, her experiences had taught her that over and over again and seeing Ichiro once a week was a perfect reminder.

She looked at the inbox again and rubbed her temples, feeling an oncoming headache. The monthly meeting was coming up at the end of the week and she still had to put a lot of information together for review. Her reddened eyes looked over the web traffic and the figures for the month of January again and her headache finally manifested itself. Something wasn't right. She couldn't put a finger on it, but something bothered her in what she saw. Haruka tried to find the source of her worry, but gave up her futile attempts in another hour. She closed the laptop and looked around the room, in search of something and nothing at the same time. After a long while her eyes landed on a cable that run up to the server, connecting one of the many hard drives sitting on the desk. A slight frown creased her forehead as she opened the lid and waited for the screen to welcome her back with its white light. She connected to the hard drive and looked through its contents. It was the backup that contained the personal information on all the club members and subscribers, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Not with the information that was on the drive that is. The fact that it was connected to allow remote access, on the other hand, was strange because Haruka was sure she hafn't done that. Her mind was still hovering over the problem, except that now she also had a bad metallic taste of suspicion in her mouth. She closed the laptop again and grabbed some aspirin on her way out, deciding to call it a day.

**x x x  
**

It was early afternoon on a sunny and rather warm day. Her headache subsided, thanks to the aspirin and some maniacal driving, but that wasn't meant to last. Haruka walked through the empty house, looking for a note or some indication of where her more and more elusive girlfriend had disappeared to. Naturally, asking for some sort of an explanation of her absence in the middle of the afternoon was too much, so Haruka relied on the good old method of reconnecting with someone you lost - dialing their cell number. After she was repeatedly sent straight to voicemail four times in a span of twenty minutes, Haruka gave up on the idea and stared unseeingly at the scenery in front of her. She wasn't a control freak, not really, but she didn't like to be in the dark, nor did she like surprises, so she had insurance. A just in case sort of thing she liked to keep to herself, but use on those who mattered.

She looked at her phone again, put in the pass code and brought one of the applications up. After clicking a few more selections, she looked at a blue dot that bobbed happily in the middle of a park three blocks away. Haruka sighed in frustration, grabbed a sports coat and her keys and went for a stroll.

**x x x  
**

It was one of the small open auditoriums, stage and seating rows included, that many parks scattered through the city have. Michiru was standing in the middle of the stage, her eyes closed, her expression peaceful, the violin and the bow dancing in her hands. She was wearing a long dress and a short jacket, the skirt and her long hair dancing in the wind, as though it was gently caressing her with every beautiful sound she made. She had no idea how long she had been playing for, all she knew was that she was finally enjoying herself. As one melody came to an end and another started, she had a distinct feeling that someone was watching her, but she ignored them. She was in a public place, she knew someone would hear her play, that was the whole point. She was tired of playing in a closed space of the house, she needed to have an audience, or at least let the wind carry her music away, as far as it would reach.

The feeling of being watched didn't go away, but rather intensified. Her curiosity won over and Michiru opened her eyes, staring at the empty auditorium, only one listener looking at her from the front row. Her elbows were resting on her knees, her head at an angle that still allowed a clear view of the violinist on the low stage. Dark blue eyes met the ocean blues and they simply stared at each other, listening to the quiet sounds of nature that filled their silence.

"You could have mentioned that you left."

"I didn't expect you to come home in the middle of the day." Michiru put the violin and the bow in the case and walked down to the blonde, whose pose didn't change.

"You would have known that if you answered your phone."

"I turned it off so that I could enjoy my music." She looked at the forlorn blonde and her own brow furrowed. She set her violin case down and put a hand through the silvery white strands. "What's wrong, Ruka?"

Haruka sighed and shook her head, wrapping her hands around the slim waist and resting her forehead on the taut stomach. "There is a benefit in memory of law enforcement agents this Saturday, would you like to play at it?"

"I… I don't know." Michiru was at a loss for words. _  
_

"Sure you do." Haruka raised her head and caught the slight widening of Michiru's eyes just in time before the younger woman wiped any expression off her face. "You're playing in a public park for a reason, you don't have to hide that from me. I would rather you didn't hide anything from me if you want to keep what we have."

Michiru stepped away and picked up the case, waiting for Haruka to join her. "I'd love to play in public again, I'm just not sure if it's enough time to get in."

Haruka chuckled, getting up. "I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem with your fame."

"Do I hear a note of repugnance in that statement?"

"Yes, but it's not towards you personally. I like it when you play."

Michiru felt like she was talking to Haruka she used to know, not the one she was dating. "Did I do something wrong?"

Haruka sighed and wrapped her arm around Michiru's waist, turning her towards the way out of the park. "No, not yet."

"Not yet? What are you implying?" She stepped away from the embrace and looked at the blonde, bewilderment and concern clearly written in her face.

"You'll see," Haruka mumbled under her nose. "Listen, I have a headache and I'm not having a very good day so far. Then I had to go looking for you because you didn't even leave a note. Can we just go home and take it easy?"

Michiru didn't feel good about this whole encounter and didn't like where their conversation was going, but did she really have a choice other than starting their first fight out of nowhere? She sighed and nodded, slowly walking in the direction of the house. "How did you find me?" she asked as Haruka caught up with her.

"I will always find you if I need to," Haruka replied cryptically.

**x x x  
**

An orchestra played in the background of a full hall as Haruka and Michiru entered. It was always the same, nothing had changed since the last time the violinist attended one of these events. The lighting was bright, the music soft, outfits screaming of their worth, and conversations aplenty. This was where Michiru belonged, or at least where she used to belong both as a musician and as a socialite. From where she stood at this exact moment in time, though, it felt fake, forced and obnoxious. Like so many others, it was supposed to be a benefit for a good cause; a cause that was forgotten once the attendees submitted their donations and switched their minds to what to wear and who to show up at the event with. It was shallow.

"Why don't you mingle for a while? I'll catch up with you later on," Haruka suggested.

"Hm?" Michiru looked up at the blonde dressed in an immaculate black Armani suit, black dress shirt and a pale yellow tie. She was breathtaking and it felt very good to walk through the door with her, vain or not. _'What was she saying? Oh, mingle.'_ Michiru smiled and nodded in agreement, even if she felt sad at being separated from her date.

Haruka walked through the full room, avoiding some and looking for others. She spotted a tall blonde man in a grey suit speaking with a shorter brunette man in a tux and headed their way.

**x x x  
**

Michiru avoided the acquaintances with empty conversations and soon found herself in a circle of law enforcement officials discussing the politics and the inner works of the police departments.

"I haven't really seen any effects come out of the creation of the special commission so far and it's been months," one of the gentlemen pointed out.

"Do you have any suggestions to remedy the situation, Ohayashi-san?"

Michiru stiffened from the sound of the familiar voice by her side. She didn't bother to look there, knowing exactly who was standing next to her.

"I think the approach should be more aggressive, Sanu-san," the man responded after a slight hesitation.

"I would love to hear more about that, why don't you make an appointment with my secretary?" Daiki suggested.

"Certainly, Sanu-san." The man bowed before excusing himself from the group.

"How are you tonight, Kaioh-san?"

Michiru finally turned to look at the man next to her. It was the first time she saw him wear something other than his casual black on black on black. He was wearing his official uniform. "I'm fine and yourself?" She plastered a fake smile on her face.

"Well, thank you." He considered her for a moment before looking around the room. "Do you know where our mutual friend is?"

Michiru raised an eyebrow. "_Our_ friend?" Daiki just looked at her without any expression. "Last time I saw her she was standing with two men in the South corner."

"Thank you." Daiki gave her a polite smile and excused himself, leaving Michiru on the side of the group that already started another conversation she had no interest in.

**x x x  
**

"Is there a particular reason why Abe-san is no longer with us without a vote?" the brunette man in a tux asked.

"She wanted out, I didn't see a reason not to comply with her request, Sasake-san." Haruka grabbed a champagne glass from a passing waiter.

"Shouldn't we be concerned with the information she has?" the blonde man asked, sipping on his drink.

"Security is my problem, not yours, Clasco-san," Haruka replied politely but firmly.

Daiki stood in their small circle, listening to the conversation in silence, wondering when Haruka would tell him were Sayuri was, if ever. He hoped it would happen sooner or later, his own search turned no results and he was sure that the disappearance had to do with his blonde cousin.

"What is of concern to me, however, is the recent change in the flow of income. Have you noticed anything unusual, Sasake-san?" Haruka looked at the brunette man who looked surprised.

"What in particular caught your attention?"

"Nothing in particular, just wondering if there is anything you have seen." Haruka looked at each of the three men in turn from underneath her lashes. Two were oblivious, one tried to look surprised. Her calm front didn't reflect any of the fire that was raging inside.

"I will keep a closer look on the numbers, Tenoh-san," Sasake assured and got a curt nod in response.

Haruka listened to the rest of their conversation, paying it little attention, while part of her brain was processing her suspicions and the other was enjoying the violin music that captured the audience from the stage where the orchestra was positioned. Her eyes traveled to the beautiful musician, her ocean blue eyes closed, her cheeks reddened slightly. Michiru was wearing a knee-length black dress that was simple, but very elegant. Haruka remembered buying that dress, they did it the day they got the suit she was now wearing, just a few days ago. It was something new to her, shopping with someone else, but she found Michiru not to be as overwhelming as she knew women (other than herself) could be. They went to the store Haruka herself preferred and Michiru found something she liked there, despite Haruka's offer to go somewhere else. It was easy. It was the way she liked it and it still made her girlfriend happy, which in turn made her happy. Haruka shook her thoughts off as a hand landed on her shoulder.

"She's very talented."

"I know."

"She doesn't belong there," Daiki said quietly.

"I know."

"And?"

"It's none of your business. You lost that right."

"Have I ever had it?"

She looked at his black eyes and saw no irony in them, only an honest and open expression. "Sanu-san, whatever foundation you had with me has been lost and you are only burying yourself deeper from where I'm standing based on your recent actions. Consider that before you address me again." She turned back to the sea goddess and ignored his hand that was still firmly placed on her shoulder.

Daiki pursed his lips and wondered exactly how deep Haruka had dug and what she knew at this point. Apparently taking care of Oono wasn't enough to dismiss all his problems, only the immediate ones. He sighed and turned back to his associates, catching on to their current conversation while watching Haruka out of the corner of his eye.

**x x x  
**

"Kaioh-sama, your music is so wonderful."

Michiru smiled at the man who'd been hovering over her ever since she got off the stage. "Thank you." She tried to get lost in the crowd, but ended up running into more of her admirers. She grunted internally and gave up on being left in peace, so she nodded and smiled politely, taking in the compliments and discussing her music with the men that surrounded her.

From the side of the room, gray eyes watched the violinist's every move. Haruka stopped listening to her associates altogether as her attention was taken by the hungry looks badly hidden on the faces of the men dressed in suits and tuxes that surrounded a beautiful woman… a woman that belonged to her. Michiru was smiling and seemingly enjoying the attention, which stirred something rotten inside Haruka and the racer left the group without so much as a nod.

Michiru loved her audience. She loved when people enjoyed her music, whether they understood it or not, whether it was her own or her rendition of someone else's piece. What she didn't like was being flocked by her fans who saw either a musical prodigy and not a person or a beautiful woman and neither a musician nor a person. The men who currently surrounded her belonged to both categories and she was starting to lose patience, lest they forget about the etiquette and start openly hitting on her. She smiled politely at another comment and her smile froze in place as a hand wrapped itself possessively around her waist. Her head snapped to the left, Michiru readying herself to tell exactly where the obnoxious admirer could shove his manners, except that she was met with a profile of her girlfriend, not a stranger. Michiru relaxed and turned back to her little circle, this time smiling with relief.

Her companions, on the other hand, were no longer smiling. The man who commented on something just a few moments ago stared at Haruka with obvious irritation, while others showed their disappointment in more subtle ways.

"And you are?" the man asked briskly, his eyes quickly taking in the possessive demeanor of the blonde next to his object of interest.

"Tenoh Haruka. And _you_ are?" Haruka's tone of voice was indifferent.

"Okado Eiji," the man replied. "Are you accompanying Kaioh-sama for tonight, Tenoh-kun?"

Michiru hid her smile, knowing exactly how easy it was to mistake Haruka for a man, especially the way she looked tonight. She looked at the racer sideways, wondering how she would take the mistaken identity, but there was not a trace of reaction in the tall blonde.

"I am accompanying Michiru tonight, yes."

"I see," came after a long pause. "It's a shame, Kaioh-sama, I was hoping for an opportunity to discuss your next album." The man ignored musician's blonde companion.

"I'm sure Haruka would love to hear your thoughts on that subject as much as I would," Michiru replied, only a trace of sarcasm present in her statement.

"It's quite alright. Maybe some other time." He bowed to the couple and the rest of the group. "Enjoy the rest of your evening."

"Sure will," Haruka mumbled as the rest of the men followed his example.

As soon as the last one of them turned, a deep sigh escaped Michiru, causing Haruka to smile to herself. Maybe things weren't as bad as she thought. Her thoughts were quickly wiped as she spotted a couple heading in their direction. "Shit."

"What?" Michiru came out of her own thoughts and looked up at the blonde.

"How much does your stepfather know about where you are and everything that happened?"

"Nothing." Michiru was about to ask why when her eyes followed Haruka's gaze and she allowed herself a quite ungraceful and very inappropriate curse.

"Exactly," Haruka whispered, tightening her hold on the slim waist.

"Michi-chan, darling!" Hideo's voice boomed as he approached, stretching his hands out. "What a wonderful surprise, when did you get back in? How was Europe?" He enveloped her in a bear hug, making Haruka step away.

Michiru's wide eyes met her mother's and both swallowed hard, trying to figure out how to get out of the mess they found themselves in that exact moment.

"To be honest, the past few months seem like a blur," Michiru finally forced out, separating herself from the man.

He chuckled. "Naturally, three months is not nearly enough time to fully enjoy its beauty, history and rich culture." Hideo stepped away and noticed his stepdaughter's companion for the first time. "Haven't we met before?"

"We have." Haruka acknowledged his presence with a bow of her head.

It was obvious that Hideo tried to remember her name, as well as that Haruka was not going to be of any help in the matter. Eiko hugged her daughter gently and weaved her hand through her husband's. "Tenoh-san, it's a pleasure to see you again."

"Kaioh-san." Haruka couldn't return the sentiment.

Haruka's hand returned back to Michiru's waist without so much as any recognition of the action by either woman, but it didn't escape the older couple. "Is there anything I should know?" Hideo was looking straight in Haruka's gray eyes.

"With all due respect, Shimizu-san, I don't know nearly enough about you to know what you should know," Haruka replied cooly.

The older man seemed to be taken aback by the response, having been a politician most of his life and having a high post, he was used to being respected and feared, not spoken to in a manner the stranger just did. Maybe this person, whose hand was so suggestively wrapped around his stepdaughter, had no idea who he was. Hideo regained his composure. "Well, perhaps it would be beneficial for both of us to get to know each other a bit better, seeing how you are glued to my daughter at the moment."

Haruka felt Michiru's spine straighten like a rod underneath her hand, but didn't show any reaction herself.

"We're having a dinner next Thursday night, why don't you stop by?"

Even though it sounded like a question, Haruka knew very well that it was meant as an order. She considered her options and smiled, nodding her head slightly. "It will be an honor, Shimizu-san."

Both Michiru and Eiko hid their surprised reactions very well, even though both knew that this was the beginning of an end. They didn't really know an end of what, they just knew it was a bad idea. Michiru stole a sideways glance at Haruka and caught a malicious sparkle in her eye, one that she was sure escaped everyone else. She grunted internally and looked back at Hideo.

"Very well." Haruka was dismissed from Hideo's attention. "Now, you have been away for quite a while, darling, there are a few people I'd like you to meet."

Just like before it wasn't a question or a request, it was an order. Michiru swallowed and felt warm breath on her ear.

"Find me when you're done."

She nodded as the warm presence by her side disappeared with a bow to her parents.

**x x x  
**

Haruka had no intention of sticking around Hideo any longer than was absolutely necessary. She may have had an interest in his daughter and a particular interest in what he did, but there was no reason to make him suspicious enough to investigate her. Especially not when the man knew her actual name; not that that would have given him much, but one could never be too careful. Haruka walked through the throng of people, sipping on the champagne and watching her girlfriend from a corner of her eye.

Michiru was taken by her parents to a number of small circles, naturally all the people she was introduced to were men. To Haruka's further displeasure, the music started again and people cleared some space for dancing, one of the people among the moving figures, inevitably, being her girlfriend. Michiru had been dancing with her new acquaintances for the past twenty minutes, seemingly enjoying every moment of it.

"She looks beautiful tonight," a male voice observed next to her.

Haruka took a larger gulp of the ivory liquid, her eyes never leaving the beauty moving to the strings of a waltz.

"She belongs here. I checked her out. I mean, she's a great choice, but she is so far above you, you'll never be enough," the man continued.

Haruka emptied her glass and turned around, trying not to break it on the head of the person who was taunting her, knowing exactly what she felt at the moment, how she felt out of place. "I didn't realize law enforcement members invited subjects of their interest to their charity events."

"Haruka, you know as well as I do that half of the force is in organized crime. How is it surprising that I'm here?" Ichiro asked.

"What surprises me is that you are stupid enough to be a public figure when everyone knows exactly who you are."

"Yet they don't do anything about it, so why should I hide? Or does it make you uncomfortable to be seen with me?"

Haruka laughed without any humor. "I'm much better at laying low than you are, if I need to disappear because of too much attention, I will. You, on the other hand, won't."

"As cocky as ever. Too bad your arrogance is not enough to keep Michiru happy."

"Don't _ever_ bring her name up, don't _ever_ look into who she is, again. She is mine and it's all that matters." Her cold eyes shone dangerously.

"She may be yours today, but who knows where she'll be tomorrow? You're a street rat, she is a princess, life isn't a fairytale."

"Says a father-killing yakuza who's being ordered around by a woman?"

Haruka was yanked against the man, chest to chest, eye to eye thanks to their height, his hand firmly on the low of her back. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. "Don't intimidate me, I'm way more dangerous than you think I am. One day I may just forget that I like you."

"I know who you are, Wada, better than most. You know that. You know what I said is true, just like you know you hit the spot earlier. Stop intimidating me, I won't intimidate you; but then again, that's the only fun we have anymore, isn't it? Now, unless you want people to think that you're gay, let go of me."

Ichiro's eyes widened as he realized how they must have looked. He let go of her waist and took a step back, giving her a once-over. Yes, she did look like a man. A smile appeared on his face as he whispered to her again. "You know, maybe if you wear that leather corset I mentioned before, you'd keep Michiru for a few extra days."

He walked away before she could respond, leaving Haruka furiously pumping her free fist. When she felt like she gained some control, her gray eyes dashed across the room to where she saw Michiru last and didn't find her there. She finally located her laughing in a company of two men and her legs moved once again before her mind processed her actions. She made her way to the group and grabbed Michiru's elbow. "Excuse us." She didn't even bother with their reaction as she dragged the smaller woman towards one of the many side doors, ending up in a small hallway that connected the hall to service rooms.

"What the hell are you doing?" Michiru hissed as she yanked her arm out of the iron grip and rubbed her abused flesh that was surely going to show bruising the next day.

Instead of answering, Haruka pushed her against the wall, putting both hands on the sides of her head and captured her lips in a hard kiss. It was different from the way Michiru had been kissed before, it wasn't out of passion, it wasn't out of love or any other warm feeling. It was a way to assert dominance. She felt like her lips were abused in the same way her arm was just minutes earlier. She tried to break away, but the wall behind her was in the way, so she turned her head all the way to the side, staring at one of the hands pushing into the wall.

"Tell me that you're mine." Haruka stopped the assault, but her whisper was as hard as her actions. "Tell me that you belong to me, Michiru."

Michiru felt a stinging sensation in her eyes and batted her eyelashes, trying to stop the tears before she faced the blonde and looked into stormy grays. "You already know that, why do you have to force it out of me?"

Haruka felt a taste of regret as she saw the ocean blues fill with tears, despite Michiru's strong resolve that was written on her face. "I need you to tell me that you're mine," Haruka repeated, softer this time.

"Haruka, I did nothing to make you jealous, I didn't subject myself to being kissed and touched by others, unlike you."

"I'm different from you, I need space. You've known that from the very beginning, you've agreed to it… and I'm not jealous, I just need to know that you're mine."

Michiru laughed at the same time as a tear ran down her cheek. This was as ridiculous as it gets. "Haruka, that is jealousy. You want to walk around with girls hanging off of your arms every Friday, having space, which, by the way, I have no idea where the boundary of that lies, and then you get jealous when I dance and talk to someone other than you."

"I need the attention, Michiru, it's my nature. I'm not sleeping with them, they know nothing of me or about me, unlike you. I've been honest about that from the beginning, you knew what you were getting yourself into. You, on the other hand, have been a pretty good god damn liar since the first day I met you. I have no idea where your talking and dancing stops and something else begins. This is why I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that you are mine."

Haruka's nails were digging into the cold wall, which was her way of holding on to the moment and not walking out of the hallway and the relationship, taking her wounded ego and pride and nursing them somewhere in the company of a few sexy girls. She did know that her ego was wounded much more by her own insecurities and Ichiro than the woman in front of her, so she decided to give it a chance. Her patience was running out, though.

Michiru couldn't tear her eyes away from the cold gray ones. She listened to every word that came out of Haruka's mouth and, no matter how hurt she was by the constant flirting of her girlfriend, she knew that what she just heard was the most she was going to get as confessions went, at least for a while. Haruka's monogamy held a lot of weight, but the fact that Haruka opened up to her was even more important. She knew that, but apparently she needed to be reminded of it. Besides, no matter how hard and cold those eyes were, the longer she looked into them, the deeper she felt she was reaching. Maybe not to the bottom of Haruka's soul, but deep enough to see the insecurity looming on the horizon. She brought her hands up and cupped the sides of Haruka's face.

"I am yours, Haruka. I belong to you. Yesterday, today, and in the future I am yours and yours only. I don't want anybody else, just you." She waited for the grays to soften before she reached and kissed the blonde, with all the gentleness that their previous kiss lacked.

Haruka was still secretly bathing in the words when it occurred to her that soft lips were moving on top of her own. She grunted and responded, asking for permission and deepening the kiss as it was granted. She let go of the wall and brought her hands to Michiru's sides, making their bodies come closer, enjoying the silk texture of the black dress.

"I'm sorry, mermaid," she breathed into the mouth she was kissing more than she said it, but Michiru heard it, her own mouth curving into a small smile. "I'm sorry."

Michiru simply responded by deepening the kiss even further and moving her hands away from the face and towards other, more exciting parts of her girlfriend's body. Haruka took the invitation and her right hand moved down Michiru's thigh, to the hem of her dress and back up, sliding on top of the satin stocking to its edge, only to heat up the skin underneath her palm as it reached it. Michiru brought the leg up in response and wrapped it around Haruka's waist, Michiru's heels putting them almost at the same height. Michiru's own hands were underneath the jacket, working their magic with the buttons of Haruka's shirt. She heard a low moan as her hands finally reached the warm flesh, making their way around the familiar body. Haruka's left arm cupped Michiru's breast, playing with it through the material of the dress and the bra underneath. Her right hand travelled to the inside of the thigh, to the edge of the black lacy panty she knew Michiru was wearing… she was there when the violinist put it on and already made plans on how she would take it off, which was still something she intended to do when they got home later.

Their tongues fighting for dominance, their mouths reluctant to leave each other, their hands sending waves of pleasure through each other, they didn't care for anything else. Michiru completely lost touch with reality as Haruka's fingers climbed underneath the thong and brushed against her already wet folds, making her shiver as they separated them and dove into the warm tightness of her sex.

'_I love you.'_ Michiru opened her clouded eyes as the words came to mind. She thought of shouting them out loud as she did in her head, but decided against it. She gave Haruka the reassurance she had asked for, the blonde didn't deserve to know exactly how much Michiru belonged to her… not yet, not until Michiru knew that it was mutual, whether Haruka would ever say it or not, but she needed to know it first, she was sure she would when the day came. Her eyes closed again as all thoughts left her and she let herself go, trembling in the hands of a woman that was like no other for her in the world.

Haruka ended the kiss after it did its job of silencing the loud moans she knew would escape Michiru as she came. She smiled, watching Michiru rest her head against the wall, her features content, her eyes half-open. Haruka put the lace back in its place and pulled her hand out, bringing the fingers in her mouth and tasting the release.

"Dirty," Michiru whispered lazily.

Haruka took her time licking the fingers before she responded: "I like your taste." She felt the leg around her waist force her closer in response and smiled wider.

"Let me." Michiru brought their mouths back together in a slow kiss. Haruka cupped her cheek with the now free hand and indulged in a lazy tongue fight.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? This is not a hallway of a brothel you go to every Friday, for god's sake, you're at a social event!" They both turned around at the shout coming from the direction of the door. Michiru's leg gracefully slid down Haruka's body, her dress coming down to its place as Haruka took a step back. The racer slowly buttoned up her shirt, not caring that Eiko was staring at her disheveled state. The light blue eyes traveled to Michiru and Eiko's face turned a nice shade of crimson as she realized that Michiru's reddened face was not a result of her being caught. "Did you just? Oh, that is disgusting!" Eiko wrinkled her nose at the realization.

"I think it's beautiful," Haruka murmured in a voice Eiko had never heard before and hoped she never would again.

She covered her eyes with her thumb and index finger before shaking it off and regaining her composure. "You can do whatever you want in the confines of your bedroom, but do not ruin my daughter's reputation and cause a scandal when she is already on thin ice with society. Lest she decides that her music matters to her again." Eiko turned to Michiru. "And you, you are officially moving out of our house and getting an apartment downtown because your trip to Europe made you feel like you want to live in the city. I don't care if you actually care enough to lease one, but make a fuss about it in front of Hideo, you owe me at least that."

She considered them both for another long moment. "Haruka, give me a call when you don't smell of my daughter, I have some interesting information you want to know." She walked out with her head high and her pride restored, leaving the two lovers straightening their clothes in thoughtful silence.


	22. The Emergence

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 22**

**The Emergence**

They were both sitting in the open auditorium of the park three blocks away from Haruka's house. It was another warm day, just like a week ago when Haruka had had to chase Michiru here. Haruka's eyes were closed as she listened to the beautiful music that soothed her senses, enjoying the sun that warmed up her face.

"Music has always been her outlet."

Haruka's peace was broken by a soft voice that she didn't particularly welcome. She decided to ignore it and relaxed further into the stone back of the auditorium seating, resting her arms on both sides.

"Michiru started playing the year her father passed away. She loved him dearly, more than she ever loved me, more than she ever will… He knew that his days were counted, which only made him drink harder, which in turn made him realize that she would notice, that she would know who her father was and become disillusioned. So he got her the violin and enrolled her in music classes. It was an intensive course, plus her regular school, she barely saw him... Michiru has never seen him drunk out of his mind, she has never known what I went through, never will… but you do. The only difference is that you succeeded in helping her, while I never had a chance to help him, no matter how much I loved him… he was dying and all he wanted was a relief… It broke her when he died, but she didn't find comfort in me… she found comfort in her music. Michiru stopped attending the lessons, playing hour after hour in her room instead. Hiding away, ignoring the reality, not wanting to deal with it. So I had to. I dealt with things the only way I knew how and that only pushed Michiru away from me more. She felt that she became the parent, that she was the adult. Her music became even more important to her… which is how I knew that she was on the brink of self-destruction when she stopped playing, stopped coming home. I brought her to you and… and she is playing again." A shaky breath escaped Eiko. "I want to thank you. Thank you for giving her another chance, something I never could."

Haruka finally opened her eyes and turned her head sideways, finding Eiko's tear-streaked face right next to hers. She didn't look at the racer expectantly, she was just genuinely grateful.

"Do you want me to feel bad because you're unable to have a good and honest relationship with your daughter?"

"No. I just wanted to thank you and to tell you how important the music is to Michiru. I don't want you to misunderstand her."

"I know how important it is to her. I can feel it, Eiko." Haruka turned back to the stage where the object of their discussion was lost in her own world. "She loves you, Eiko, more than you know. She just doesn't trust you enough anymore to let you know that."

"Mmh." It was something between a chuckle and a cry. "I hope you're right." Eiko wiped her tears and cleared her throat. "You've done your part of the deal, here is mine. Hideo thinks that someone is helping the Wing of Night from the inside. He hand-picked a dozen or so people he trusts and is intending to launch an internal investigation to find out who it is."

Now Haruka's full attention was on the blonde next to her. "Well, you and I know how right his gut feeling is," she chuckled. The man was smart, which in a way was exciting. She liked worthy opponents. "Thank you; you truly did return the favor." Haruka got up and looked down. "You no longer have any obligations to me, but if I were you, I'd stick around for your daughter's benefit. Take her out shopping or something."

Eiko watched as Haruka walked up to the stage and surprised Michiru by stepping behind her and wrapping her arms around violinist's waist, placing a kiss on her neck. Michiru smiled happily and continued to play from the comfort of the embrace. A warm smile spread over Eiko's lips at the sight of her carefree daughter.

**x x x  
**

"Is there any particular reason why you like the idea of going to this dinner?" Michiru looked at Haruka from the passenger seat of the car.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Haruka took a sharp turn.

"Can you slow the hell down? We're not in a rush and this is not a race."

"Why are you so irritated?" Haruka glanced at the beautiful woman to her side.

Michiru turned back to the road ahead. "I don't like Hideo. I don't want to have dinner with family and I don't want to have dinner with whoever he invited over. I've never liked it and I never will."

"But you're so good at it… parties and dinners I mean," Haruka prodded.

"Tenoh Haruka, if you don't stop making fun of me and keep intimidating me, you will sleep in the dungeon."

"Woah… last time I checked, it was still my house." She reached for Michiru's hand and brought it to her mouth, kissing its back and then biting lightly on the same spot. "Although, if you join me there, we can figure something out."

Michiru grunted but didn't pull her hand away, which made Haruka grin even wider. "Besides, I thought you were bored."

"Then maybe you should tell me more about what you do, not take me to a dinner party." It was out before she could stop herself and now there was no taking it back. Michiru looked at Haruka wearily, waiting for her reaction.

Haruka, to Michiru's surprise, considered the proposition. She kissed the back of the small hand she was holding before letting it go and throwing a quick glance at her passenger. "Maybe I will. Let's see how the dinner goes."

**x x x  
**

Silence spread over the table. Everybody slowly ate out of the plate in front of them, deep in their thoughts, seemingly not wanting to break that silence.

'_This is awkward.'_ Michiru looked around the table from underneath her eyelashes again and sighed internally. She was sitting across from Haruka on her mother's end of the table. Four other men sat next to them on the other side, with Hideo opposite Eiko at the head of the table. Neither Michiru nor Haruka knew who Hideo invited for dinner, but neither of them could expect this in their wildest dream… or nightmare. The violinist tried to steal another glance at her girlfriend to figure out what she was thinking.

Haruka was trying to contain her laughter. The longer the silence stretched, the more ridiculous this whole situation seemed and the more it made her want to laugh. The spell was broken as Hideo rose and excused himself from the table to take a call one of the maids alerted him to. As soon as the man stepped out of the door, Haruka's eyes dashed to the four men and she grinned openly.

"Clasco-san, next time it occurs to you that meeting in the house of your adversary is a good thing, please let us know in advance."

All four men broke into bolts of laughter, which Haruka had to join in, unable to contain her own glee any longer. Eiko and Michiru looked at each other in confusion before turning their questioning looks to Haruka, who waved a hand at them in dismissal.

"At least we're here based on our business relationships, what the hell are you doing here?" Clasco asked, still in mirth.

"I'm dating the man's stepdaughter." She pointed at the violinist.

"Is that wise?"

Haruka looked at the brunette man seriously. "That's up to me, not you, Ishida-san."

He nodded after a moment and turned his attention to the man sitting across from him. "Should we use this opportunity?"

Daiki looked at him like he was mad. "I have no clue what you are talking about, Ishida-san."

"But Tenoh-"

"Tenoh-san made a joke, you're about to make a mistake," Daiki interrupted him. "Let's pretend that you didn't just almost make a fool of yourself and discuss Kaioh-san's music instead."

Michiru raised a brow. "Since when are you interested in my music, Sanu-san?"

Daiki smiled disarmingly. "Since right now."

"You could come up with something better than kissing ass of your cousin's girlfriend, Sanu-san," Sasake mumbled from the other end of the table.

Haruka choked on the water she was drinking. "Since when do you know -"

"Oh, come on, you think I don't know things like this with my access to personal files? Give me some credit, Tenoh-san," the man explained.

"You're cousins?" Clasco asked in amusement.

Daiki looked at Haruka and just shrugged. Haruka simply ignored his question and put some rice in her mouth. She was relieved to see Hideo come back into the room, knowing that it would prevent any other unwanted discussions.

"So Tenoh-san, what are your intentions with my daughter?"

This time Haruka almost choked on the rice she was still chewing, wondering if tonight could get even more uncomfortable. She briefly looked at Michiru, pushing down the lump in her throat with the cold water, and then gave her full attention to the man at the head of the table.

"I don't think that's an appropriate question with your associates present, Shimizu-san." She didn't avert her eyes as his dark ones seemed to try and bore into her soul. _'Or my associates for that matter.'_

"I've been working with these gentlemen for quite some time, Tenoh-san, they're almost like my work family outside of family. I see no conflict."

'_Apparently you know your family outside of family as well as you know your actual family.'_ Haruka smirked until she realized he was still waiting for an answer, and so was everyone else at the table. "No offense, Shimizu-san, but my intentions towards your _step_daughter are between me and her, we're both adults."

His features hardened as his lips tightened. "That is quite inappropriate of you, Tenoh-san."

"You would have to excuse me, Shimizu-san, propriety has never been one of my priorities," Haruka replied evenly.

"Really? What is then?"

"Honesty."

It was obvious that Hideo was having an internal argument, even though his face reflected nothing. "I can appreciate that, I guess, although I still think that it's not much to ask, I do care about my daughter."

Haruka nodded. "I care about her too. I guess, that's all you need to know."

They stared at each other for another long moment before Daiki asked Hideo something that related to their work, which in turn started a new conversation, taking attention away from Haruka.

**x x x  
**

"So what was that joke you made all about?" Michiru asked as soon as they got in the car.

Haruka smiled at her girlfriend and fired up the engine, backing out of the driveway before she cared to respond. "I will tell you more about what I do, but if you ever divulge any of that information to anyone else, I _will_ kill you."

Michiru was going to make a joke, but the look on Haruka's face made her realize that the racer wasn't kidding. "Fair enough, although I don't see what that has to do with what I asked."

Haruka smiled again. "It has everything to do with it. Myself, Sanu, Clasco, and Sasake are the remaining four Wings. Ishida is one of the club members."

It took a moment for Michiru to get over the shock and see the irony.

"Clasco is responsible for arranging our monthly meetings, so I had to jab him about the fact that we were the only guests of the house -"

"And all of you belong to the gang that Hideo is trying to catch," Michiru finished for her.

"Exactly." Haruka grinned again.

"Wow." Michiru smiled as well, watching the passing lights. "Small world."

"Yeah. Smaller than you'd think."

"What about Wada? What is he?" She held her breath.

Haruka, on the other hand, let hers out. "He used to be a Wing."

Michiru studied the driver's profile for a while. "The way he acts around you, it seems like you have more past together than being the Wings."

"Your shrewdness and ability to observe things fascinate me, have I told you that before?"

Michiru blushed slightly at the complement. "No."

Haruka smiled and turned back to the road. "Well, now you know. We have a lot in common, actually, and he came very close to being my best friend…" Haruka pursed her lips. _'Before the bitch showed up.'_

"You were best friends with a yakuza?"

"Uh huh. They're people too, you know."

"But… they're bad people."

Haruka laughed wholeheartedly. "I'm not an angel myself, mermaid. Don't forget that."

"You are a lot nicer than he is," Michiru defended.

Haruka cocked an eyebrow. "As far as I know he never put a gun to his girlfriend's head."

"You say it like you're proud of it."

"I'm not, I'm just drawing a parallel for you. I'm not nice, Michiru, you've seen my bad side, I don't think you want to get more acquainted with it."

"Not really." Michiru sighed. "So what happened?"

"Yasu happened," Haruka said in disgust.

"Did you guys have a fight because of a girl?" Michiru guessed.

Haruka gave her an odd look. "You can say that."

"Who cheated on whom?"

Haruka laughed without any humor. "I wouldn't have cut his wings if he just slept with the same girl I did, we're not the kind." She considered her own statement and grimaced. "Well, I would do more than that if he slept with you… to both of you… but that's besides the point." She pulled next to the shop. "No, he let himself be controlled by a woman to his own detriment, and he picked her over me, so I let him go… both of them go."

"I'm confused," Michiru mumbled.

Haruka smiled at her softly and shook her head. "I know. It's a long story for another occasion." She got out and opened the door for Michiru. "Come on, I'm gonna show you something."

Michiru accepted the offered hand and stepped out of the car, following Haruka to the back door to the shop. She had never entered this way before, always using the front door and never going beyond the salon. She was expecting to find something secret about the back room, but was disappointed to see a regular room full of shelves, much like any storage behind a mechanic's shop would be. Haruka locked the door behind them and walked between the shelves, Michiru following her every step. Michiru's eyes widened as Haruka pulled out her phone and put in a string of numbers, which in turn made a panel in the floor in front of them slide to the side, exposing a slightly illuminated staircase. Michiru carefully descended the steps behind Haruka, making sure not to trip in her high heels. The panel above her head slid back in its place as the lights brought the small room in focus. Michiru looked around in awe, noting the numerous electronic devices and a collection of books and binders.

"Welcome to my office." Haruka was studying the smaller woman.

"This is… something," Michiru admitted. "So what exactly is it that you do?"

"Same thing you thought I did before you came here, it's just a bit more complicated than it looks, a little more involved."

"How so?"

"You know that the racers pitch in to participate in any given race and the winner takes it all?"

Michiru nodded. "That's how you make money, right?"

Haruka smiled. "Pocket money, yes."

"Pocket money?" Michiru raised a brow. "Last Friday you made at least three thousand dollars."

"Twenty-five hundred, actually. We pitched in five hundred a piece to participate. The fees range based on the type of race and the level of clearance of participants, i.e. their experience racing." Haruka took a seat in one of the chairs and motioned for Michiru to do the same. "The real income stream for the Wings and to a lesser degree for the club members is from betting."

"Gambling?"

"Uh huh. You know how we watch the live feed during the race?" Michiru nodded. "Well, the point of doing so is not just for the entertainment of the party crowd. The whole race is put up online and every week the subscribers to our services pick the type of race and then place bets on their favorite drivers. That's where we get the money from; for all of this and ourselves."

Michiru's mouth was slightly agape. "Exactly how much are you worth?"

"Awww, all you want is my money? I knew taking you to those hotels was a bad idea," Haruka said in mirth.

"Yeah, I was wondering how you could afford that… it all makes so much sense right now. The hotels, the furniture, the car…"

"Actually, I won the car in a bet, I didn't buy it." Haruka smiled wider. "It used to be Wada's. He bet that no woman would ever win against him, thinking that I was male, so I agreed to his bet and won my baby. It was red at the time, both him and Daiki like to show off. So, I put some security measures on my car and changed the color and he… well he got the one he has now." She shook off her reverie. "He was soooo pissed, it was awesome."

Michiru laughed at the childish expression on Haruka's face. "You know I don't care about your money, I was just curious."

Haruka chuckled. "I hope so."

The violinist made her way to the racer and cupped her cheek. "You know me better than that." She didn't let Haruka respond, showing exactly how much she cared for the blonde herself.

**x x x  
**

By the time they made it to the venue for that night's race most of the people were already there. The Enzo slowly drove through the crowd, coming to the top level of the garage structure. Haruka parked in the row of contestants and both women got out, greeting people around them and making their way towards the security booth.

"Yo." Hiro jumped off of the chair, making the girl who was sitting in his lap just a second ago almost fall on her face.

"Yo back at you," Haruka snorted. "Where're we at?" She looked around, noting that the deck was filled with people and the whole ramp seemed to be buzzing. Music was booming out of the in-car speakers, different tracks mixing in a steady loud noise. Daiki and some other racers made their way towards them and Haruka turned back to Hiro, looking at him expectantly.

"Everything is set, we were just waiting for you and Wada."

Haruka nodded and looked at the ramp as a roaring of an engine tore through the music. Her eyes narrowed and she reached for Michiru's hand, without even realizing that she did so. Michiru looked up at the racer in question, but was completely ignored by the blonde, whose full attention was concentrated on the familiar red Ferrari followed by a black Enzo Ferrari that Michiru had never seen before. Both cars pulled into the line of contestants, side by side.

Ichiro stepped out of the driver's side as confident as ever. He walked around the car and opened the door of the black Enzo. A four-inch metal heel followed by the rest of the black boot appeared from the opening. The rest of the slender body clad in a black sweater dress appeared shortly thereafter. Her loose light chestnut hair cascaded down her back, just below her shoulder blades. Her high cheekbones, her fine features, perfectly shaped nose, proportional mouth, and piercing black eyes made the woman almost ethereally beautiful. As on cue, people stopped moving and turned to watch her let go of Ichiro's hand as they both left the car's side and strode towards the other racers, their movement perfectly in sync. The pair looked menacing and arrogant as though they owned the underworld. Their intense eyes came up from the ground in front of them and settled on the blonde ahead.

Michiru stood by Haruka, feeling intimidated, even thought she had no idea why. As the two pairs of eyes settled on the racer, Michiru noticed Daiki and Hiro step closer to them, Hiro next to Haruka, Daiki next to Michiru, as though to expand the ranks, ready to protect them. A few other people also moved behind the four, all eyes set on the approaching couple.

The ominous beauty stopped two feet away from Haruka and gave the blonde a head-to-toe once over, dark eyebrow rising slightly. Her attention turned to the sea green-haired goddess to Haruka's side, who got a similar inspection, and a smirk distorted the appealing features. Her black eyes met the ocean blues and a current passed between the two, which made the smirk even more apparent. The newcomer turned to Haruka and smiled with an even row of white teeth. "Feisty." Her eyes searched the cold grays. "Share?"

Haruka's eyes got even colder, threatening to become covered with frost, but Haruka didn't reply. The woman nodded. "Too bad." She took another step and her face came dangerously close to Haruka's, who didn't move an inch. Another smile crept at the perfect mouth that was a hair width away from Haruka's. "She'll have to step away, baby girl." She withdrew before Haruka's palm connected with her face and walked towards the bar, not a iota of dignity lost in the process.

Ichiro watched her descent indifferently, then he turned to Haruka and waited for a reaction. He got none from the blonde.

"Who the hell was that?" Michiru's voice could have been compared to the most menacing Haruka had ever possessed.

"That was Yasu," Ichiro answered, approaching the couple. He stopped next to Michiru, facing Daiki. "Oh, and she thinks that Tenoh is her baby girl, so keep that in mind." Michiru turned to Ichiro sharply, expecting to see a smirk, but instead witnessed a silent exchange between the two men she officially dubbed as belonging to hell. Daiki gave a curt nod to Ichiro and the taller man walked away, in the direction Yasu headed for.

"Kid, you okay?" Daiki stepped in front of Haruka.

Anger finally slipped through her mask as she stared at his traitorous face. "You don't have a fucking right to ask me that. It's all your fault that Satan and Death are back." She stomped off without another word, leaving a dumbfounded Michiru and tight-lipped Daiki behind.

"Satan and Death?" Michiru finally asked.

"Yeah… it's fitting."

"Why is she Death?" Michiru searched the crowd for the beautiful woman.

Daiki looked at her funny. "She's the Satan."

"Huh?" Michiru looked back at him.

"He decides people's fates, takes their lives like it's nothing, but otherwise he's harmless. Haruka gave him the nickname after… well, it doesn't matter. What matters is that she _is _Satan incarnate. She'd turn an infant on its mother."

"Great, now I'm dealing with Demon, Death and Satan incarnate," Michiru snickered, not realizing that she said it out loud.

Daiki laughed. "That fits too, I've been called worse than that."

Michiru looked at him dubiously. "You _actually_ have nicknames here?"

"Yeah, we do, in a very small circle."

"So, who's Haruka?"

"The Fallen Angel. Like a brighter version of Lucifer." Daiki smiled then waived a hand. "It's all bullshit, but with all seriousness, watch your and Haruka's back. That woman is nuts and she thinks that she owns Haruka."

"And you let her come back?" Michiru's amusement was replaced with anger.

"I didn't have another choice, Michiru."

She saw the sadness in his face, but found his explanation as unconvincing as the first time she heard it. "She was taking care of Sayuri as soon as she found out that she was in danger. All you did was ignore the threat to your girlfriend's life and then get pissed and use your yakuza connections to take care of one by using another. Which resulted in your bringing some psycho bitch back to Haruka, who obviously tried to get rid of her before. How close am I?"

For a second Daiki wasn't sure if he was talking to his blonde harpy or the sea-green-haired fury… they sounded the same. "Very… but what's done is done. All we can do now is watch our backs and Haruka's."

Michiru closed her eyes momentarily, trying to contain her anger. "Daiki, if something ever happens to Haruka because of this, I swear to whatever god you believe in, I will kill you myself."

Daiki watched her stomp after Haruka in stunned silence. At least his harpy found someone who genuinely cared about her. He shook his head and walked to his car.

**x x x  
**

"Are you okay?" Michiru put her hand on Haruka's shoulder. The blonde was standing in front of the railing, watching the lights of the city with unseeing gray eyes.

"No, I'm not okay, mermaid," Haruka whispered.

Michiru put her cheek on the racer's shoulder and stroked her back gently in a soothing motion. "I won't let her harm you."

Haruka laughed dryly and turned her head sideways to look at the violinist by her side. "Stay away from her, mermaid, she won't harm me… at least not physically."

"Are you protecting her?" Michiru's head snapped back up.

"No, I'm protecting you. I want you to stay away from her because you never know what she would do, but she won't harm me physically. She'll just do what she did before."

"What did she do before?" Michiru searched the stern face but found no answer.

Haruka shook her head, not willing to answer that. _'She took someone I cared about away from me. Just like she'll take you away.'_

"Haruka, you have to talk to me."

"Not now. Right now I have a race to lose." Haruka smiled sadly and placed a gentle kiss on Michiru's lips.

"You won't lose." Michiru smiled encouragingly. "You almost always win."

"Oh no, Ichiro is the king of drifting. Yasu… well, she's good at everything she does." Haruka saw the worry rise in the ocean blues and hugged her closer. "I'll be fine. I'll see you after the race."

Michiru nodded and they both walked towards the cars in complete silence.

**x x x  
**

"You okay?"

Haruka looked at Ichiro who was leaning against her car. Didn't she just hear that same question not even five minutes ago? Was it written on her face? "What do you care?"

"You know I care."

"Could've fooled me."

"Haru, you know I couldn't keep her away from here."

Haruka faced him, not hiding any of the emotions she was feeling. "Don't call me that, you lost your right to do that when you let that bitch affect our friendship… and yes, you had a choice, you could've asked Daiki for anything in return for killing Oono, but you had to get back in… and bring her in. So don't fucking tell me you care!" It took a lot for her to keep her voice down and not shout at the man in front of her.

"You know I love racing, I never wanted to leave in a first place. I never wanted to lose what we had either, you know that!"

"_You_ made the choice, _you_ let yourself be controlled by a psychotic bitch, _you_ chose her!" She was poking him in the chest with every accusation.

"I -"

"Baby girl, it's not nice to call me names like that behind my back…"

Haruka twisted her torso at the seductive voice to her side so fast that Ichiro had to support her from falling. "I am not your baby girl, never was, never will be… and you _are_ a psychotic bitch, Yasu, I'll tell it to your face as many times as you want to hear it."

The little tirade only made the beauty smile more. "Oh, I love you too, babe." She cupped Haruka's cheek and moved closer, her lips lingering over the racer's. "Hmm… she is something, you know… of course you know… I want to know too."

She pulled away again before Haruka had an opportunity to do anything. "Don't -"

"Oh, I will… you know I will." Yasu smiled across her shoulder as she walked to her own car, malice shining in her black eyes.

"I'll try to keep her at bay," Ichiro whispered.

"Yeah… you don't have balls for that." Haruka got in the car and shut her door before Ichiro regained the ability to move. He shook his head and got inside his Ferrari, preparing to get into formation for the race.

**x x x  
**

Michiru watched the race in a suspense like no other. Haruka wasn't kidding when she said that both Ichiro and Yasu were good at this particular type of racing. They went in pairs; or, to be more exact, they started in pairs. Two cars went flying off of the line, towards the ramp, occupying it in an almost perpendicular motion, sliding along the curve with the other car. Then they raced on the bottom floor, did a 180, and came flying back, drifting to the upper deck and coming to the finish line. It took no more than a couple of minutes per set of drivers, but the fun was extended by the process of elimination. The one who came second was taken out of the competition, the one who came first moved onwards to compete with someone else. Daiki lost to Yasu by a narrow margin and soon Michiru watched as Haruka and Ichiro made their way back. Ichiro was definitely better at holding his car tight to the curve of the ramp, but Haruka was better at gaining speed on the bottom level. She regained the advantage she lost and now both cars were heading for the entrance to the ramp. Michiru wished she could see their faces, but all that came in camera's view was the image of two fast-approaching cars, fighting for dominance. In another fragment of a second the red Ferrari jumped in, followed by the bullet gray. Michiru left Hiro as the Enzo appeared from a cloud of white smoke, coming to a halt next to other disqualified drivers.

Haruka stepped out and watched as the red Spider and black Enzo came in position for the final race of the night. She didn't really need to see it, she knew who would win, but her curiosity took over. The cars flew towards the ramp, red followed by the black as though they were attached to each other.

"You let him win."

Haruka turned her head towards the soft voice and considered her girlfriend for a long moment before bringing her into tight embrace and stroking the aristocratic jaw with her thumb. "Now what would my fans think if they heared you say that?"

Michiru smiled, enjoying the caress. "Let's not tell them then."

"Let's not." Haruka kissed the luscious lips, forgetting about the race, forgetting about the people who were coming back out of the ramp, forgetting about everything but the depths of the mouth she was devouring.

Michiru pulled away for breath first. "I wanna know who won."

"Ichiro did." She didn't look away from the ocean blues. "This is the only upper hand he has over her."

They both made their way back to Hiro, who was busy getting the money ready for the winner. Daiki joined them as he saw the other racers approach, deciding to be near just in case.

"Congratulations," Haruka addressed Ichiro as he entered their circle, followed by Yasu.

"Thank you." He bowed his head lightly. "Although I would appreciate at least an honest race from you next time."

Haruka smiled at that. "Someone had to show her that she doesn't always come first. Might as well be you."

"Why, I do clearly remember you showing me that you can come first… though that was not in racing, was it?"

Haruka's smile fell off of her face that turned slightly pale at Yasu's words. She felt Michiru stiffen and cursed Daiki in her head once again. "The fact that you're a beautiful woman with a particularly useful set of bed skills does nothing to outweigh the ugliness that lies below."

"Didn't stop you last time."

"Things change, Yasu."

Yasu smiled, exposing her teeth again. "Yes, things change, Haru. People don't. You and I don't change. No matter how well-bred your new pussy-toy is, she'll never be enough, and neither will you be enough. That's why we use and discard, we don't recycle."

Haruka's hand jerked and grabbed Michiru's elbow as the smaller woman launched at the brunette, her nostrils flaring. "I am nothing like you and you know nothing of who I am, so don't pass your judgment. Just because you're a discarded trash that people step over, doesn't mean we all are."

"You wanna make a bet?" Yasu' voice only became sweeter. "How long, Haru?"

"Fuck off, Yasu." Haruka was close to losing her steely cold voice and exploding at the brunette in front of her.

"Come on, it's enough excitement for one night." Ichiro took Yasu's hand and pulled her gently away from the blonde.

Yasu was still looking at Haruka, even as she started moving backwards. "See you next week. Think of me when you're having her."

Haruka was rooted to the ground until the cars disappeared into the ramp, drifting on their way down. She felt air move around her as Michiru jerked her arm that Haruka was still holding out and faced her. "Not here," Haruka gritted through her teeth, finally losing her composure. She walked briskly to her car, assuming that Michiru would follow. Michiru did follow, fuming. She got in the passenger seat and faced Haruka, not bothering to put the seatbelt on. Haruka gave her a quick glance and revved the engine, stepping on the gas and following her adversaries out of the parking ramp.

"You slept with her?" Michiru finally yelled, unable to hold it all in any longer.

"Does that surprise you?"

"You're right, it shouldn't. I mean you probably slept with every member of female population within a ten-mile radius of yourself, no matter who they are."

"If I have, that would be up to me, not you, what the fuck do you care?" Haruka exploded back.

"What do I care? What happened to 'tell me you're mine' and all of that shit just last week?"

"Nothing. Nothing happened to it, Michiru. You're still mine and I'm still yours. What's in the past is in the past. Of course I slept with her, she's a beautiful woman… how was I supposed to know that she was a psycho whose twisted mind would make her believe that what we had was more than sex?"

"Is that what we have? Sex?" Michiru suddenly became very quiet.

Haruka cursed and turned off of the road, stopping at an empty beach that was bathed in darkness at this time of the night. She pulled the keys out and left the car, walked around and pulled Michiru out as well, holding her by her arms. "Don't twist my words! If we had just sex, I wouldn't have taken you in, I would have never let you stay in my house, and I would have never called you my girlfriend!"

"Somehow it seems to me that there was a lot more between you and her than just sex. I mean you said she picked him over you and that's why you let Ichiro go… you must have felt something for the woman if you were that jealous!"

Haruka dropped her head backwards, let go of Michiru's arms and walked away, kicking the sand with all the fury that was eating her up, before she walked back and tried again. "You've got it all screwed up. I told you that _he_ chose _her_ over _me._ He was my friend, the only one I've ever had, but she took him away from me when she realized that I didn't return her sentiment, that I would never be hers. She made him chose between her and I and he chose her. It has never been about who slept with whom and who cheated on whom, Yasu is his fucking sister, Michiru." Her eyes traveled over the smaller woman before she turned to the dark water, feeling the abyss reaching for her once again. "If you can't handle just meeting with the woman, how do you expect for our relationship to last? She'll do everything to make me lose you, mermaid. She hasn't even started yet and you're already ready put out the white flag."

Michiru stood by the car, watching the strong figure that seemed not to crumble under the weight, but deep inside she knew that the storm that raged inside Haruka had a destructive power that could burst through the smallest cracks, as soon as the blonde allowed it. She herself just tried to make a dent and lose what she had. She wiped the tears that spilled over her cheeks as she listened to the woman she loved talk about someone else in her life. Both Haruka and Daiki warned her about Yasu, yet she just let her win… let her get to the violinist's heart without even breaking a sweat. What did that tell her about her own faith in her girlfriend and herself? Michiru walked to where Haruka stood and stepped in front of her, facing the statuesque blonde. "I will never leave you."

"Hmph," was all that Haruka could master. If she remembered how to cry without the agony of her nightmares, now would be a perfect moment to do so.


	23. You Think You Got Me

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 23**

**You Think You Got Me**

"_If you can't handle just meeting the woman, how do you expect for our relationship to last? She'll do everything to make me lose you, mermaid. She hasn't even started yet and you're already ready tothey out the white flag."_

"_I will never leave you." _

"_Hmph."_

Michiru stared into space unseeingly, remembering that night on the beach. It had been weeks, but the memory kept haunting her every waking moment and sometimes she felt she needed it. She never really kidded herself with a notion that she held Haruka's heart or that she had anything that would hold the racer steadily by her side. Of course Michiru knew that Haruka opened up to her more than she had to anyone else, she also knew that Haruka wanted her in their relationship… at least for the moment, which became very clear through her jealousy, but Michiru's mind reasoned that all of that could be lost easily, unlike the path she had to take to gain what she had. And she had almost lost it. Haruka was vulnerable the night Yasu showed up and Michiru was blinded by her own jealousy and insecurity enough not to see it. Even though she came to her senses before it was too late, it was not fast enough to stop the walls from coming back in their place around Haruka's heart. Ever since that conversation on the beach, when the blonde was at her lowest, she distanced herself… distance being her best defense mechanism.

Haruka had no problem sharing the information about the gang or answering Michiru's questions, that hadn't changed; she also was as passionate as ever, it was just that something… something was missing, something that had come out with the half-sob half-chuckle when Haruka had stared unseeingly past Michiru at the darkness of the ocean. Something that had hurt her so much that she had felt the need to take the little girl who was starting to come out and hide her back, as far away as the racer could.

"Hi sweetie."

Michiru blinked, trying to shake her heavy thoughts off at the sound of a soft voice behind her. She turned around and saw her mother dressed in dark blue jeans, cotton sweater and pointy heels standing right behind her. Eiko's blonde hair was twisted up and she looked both like a teenager and a sophisticated woman at the same time. For the umpteenth time Michiru wondered how Eiko pulled that off.

"Don't call me in an hour saying that your shopping spree is over early because your feet hurt," Haruka warned as she pushed herself out from underneath the car she was working on.

Eiko smiled down at the blonde and looked around the shop. "A grease monkey, Tenoh? Doesn't quite go with your Armani suits."

Haruka got up to her full height and wiped her hands on a small soiled rag. "What we do doesn't always say who we are. You, of all people, should know that, Eiko."

The older blonde nodded and turned to face her daughter, who was wearing flat shoes, black slacks, beige shirt and a light jacket, which was much more appropriate for the day they had planned. They both watched as the 'mechanic' walked to her car that was parked in one of the bays and got something out, returning to them momentarily.

"Have fun," she said extending her hand.

Michiru looked from the unreadable face down to the black plastic rectangle Haruka held and back up to the face, this time with a questioning expression on her own. "I have my own money."

The corner of Haruka's mouth rose slightly before she regained her control and wiped it away. "You do charity, mermaid, you don't work and your estate is gone. Besides, I know you're not dating me for my money, we've established that." She could not resist winking at the slightly blushing woman in front of her.

"I can take care of my daughter, Haruka. This is inappropriate," Eiko said in a slightly agitated voice.

"Your daughter is living with me, what would be inappropriate is for you to take care of her."

"I didn't realize you were this old-fashioned," Eiko replied with sarcasm.

"You don't realize a lot of things, shall we just leave it at that?" Haruka cocked her head to the side.

"Do you need anything?" Michiru took the American Express with her name on it and held it in her fist as she looked up at her girlfriend who apparently decided to act like a supporting husband.

Haruka shook her head in response and pressed her lips against Michiru's in a long but chaste kiss. "Just have fun and call me if you need anything. Unless it's about your mother's feet."

Michiru chuckled and gave Haruka another peck before she grabbed her mother's hand and pulled Eiko out of the shop and towards the Bentley, where Jun was waiting.

**x x x  
**

They were walking along the line of boutiques, no more interested in what they had to offer. Michiru sipped on her frozen coffee beverage, hoping that the caffeine would give her a boost to last until the end of the day and not die from exhaustion. She forgot how terrible shopping with her mother could be, even though she was more open to her suggestions this time around. At some point she even took pleasure in making Eiko uncomfortable as Michiru browsed through very suggestive lingerie, until her own imagination made her feel hot and suffocating in the small store, making them both leave promptly.

"Are you sure that this is what you want?"

"Hhm?" Michiru asked, startled, since they were walking and not looking at anything in particular, what was her mother referring to?

"What you have with Haruka, are you sure that that is what you want?" Eiko elaborated.

"Isn't it obvious?" Michiru chewed on the straw that was still in the corner of her mouth.

"You belong to two different worlds. I understand that she made you happy and that you may feel like you're in love, but you are very different. You have different backgrounds, different interests… the only thing you have in common is your passion… and no matter how attracted to each other you are, at some point it won't be enough."

Michiru stopped walking midway through Eiko's speech and was now looking for a place to sit down. She found an empty bench and plopped onto it quite ungracefully, the bags landing at her feet. "We have a lot more in common than you think." She looked at the flow of people in front of them, rushing on their way to the next chore. "Different interests is something I can live with; besides, she loves my music and I love to watch her drive."

"Still. You went to the best school in the country. She… I don't even know, but it couldn't be more drastically different than it is."

"What does it matter where I went to school? What does it matter that I grew up in a big house? What does it matter that I'm part of the so-called society?"

"It matters more than you think."

"No, it doesn't. Not with her it doesn't. I'm not any smarter than she is, it's probably the other way around with all her experiences… our views on many things are similar and… she is special, mother, very special. I don't care if I have to live on the street with her, I will."

Eiko considered her daughter's stubborn face for a while. "It doesn't look like you have to worry about that."

Michiru chuckled. "No, seemingly I don't." She looked at Eiko completely serious. "I love her, mother, can't you just be happy for me?"

"I am happy for you, Michi. I just want to make sure you don't get hurt."

"Mhh. I think that's something we can't avoid sometimes."

Eiko's eyes widened slightly in surprise at the sudden change in Michiru's voice and posture. She followed her line of vision and the light blue eyes settled on a brunette woman. A long thin cigarette was elegantly brought up to her red-tinted lips and a small cloud of white smoke weaved through the air like a curling snake shortly after. The woman looked impatiently around, obviously waiting for someone. Her hair fell freely down her back clad in a black turtleneck sweater, her piercing black eyes chilled Eiko to the core as she turned around, but that wasn't what caught Eiko's attention. Her attention was drawn by the intricate design of colorful tattoos that covered two long nicely-shaped legs that were exposed between the black skirt and the high-heeled pumps. The black eyes shifted to Michiru and Eiko saw a blinding smile appear on the beautiful face. Strikingly, that did nothing to warm up the ice-cold eyes.

"Do you know her?" Eiko whispered.

Michiru nodded slowly, but didn't answer, her full attention on the woman she had been secretly wanting to strangle since the first day she met her and every Friday she saw her since. Yasu threw her cigarette in the disposal and turned to walk in their direction, but a hand on her upper arm stopped her. She turned around, irritation clearly visible in her face. She was met with a pair of black eyes that matched hers and the two seemed to have a silent exchange before she smiled again and turned the other way. Ichiro looked at Michiru and nodded once in acknowledgment, which she returned with a thankful expression on her face. Michiru let out a shallow sigh as the two walked away and disappeared in the crowd of people.

**x x x  
**

The black Bentley pulled away from the curb and disappeared around a corner shortly after. Haruka watched it go, pulled the bay door down on her way in and briskly walked to the back of the shop, disappearing in the underground room. She flipped the chair around, straddling it in her usual fashion, and brought the screens to life. The white lights flashed their welcome, soon replaced by a window with a running log. The printer broke the silence as it quietly put the information the racer was trying to avoid seeing for the past month on the white pages, spitting them into the tray. Haruka picked up the sheets and grabbed a pencil from the desk, spreading the pages around the table as she went over the information. Almost an hour later she threw the pencil down and grabbed the edge of the table, seemingly leaning on it for support, but in reality keeping herself from dashing out of the door and beating the Wing senseless. She exhaled sharply, her eyes narrowed at the wall, her orbs the color of the air during the rain.

**x x x  
**

"Honey, I'm home," Michiru said in the best wifely voice she could master. Silence was her answer and a small frown appeared on her features as she saw the Enzo parked in its regular spot. She set her bags down and opened the door wide for Jun to bring in the rest. After the elderly driver had left, Michiru made her way through the empty house, her frown deepening. A white envelope sat against one of the decorative pillows on the bed. Michiru stared at it for a long moment, a bad feeling creeping up inside. She reached for it and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

_Mermaid,_

_I have an errand to run. Should be back by morning… if I'm not, use the security code on the card I gave you earlier, it corresponds to the number of the lock box in the downtown branch of the bank you use for savings. The contents will be self-explanatory. _

_TH_

_PS: wipe that frown off of your face, I'll be back… it's just a precaution… _

After rereading the note for at least four more times, Michiru placed it back and went to take the things out of her shopping bags. She wished the bank was open at this time, she was curious what she would find there. However, the bank wouldn'

t open until eight the next morning and Michiru was hoping that Haruka would be back by then. Her hands shook slightly as she discarded the now empty bags.

**x x x  
**

The bar was loud and crowded, which was a normal occurrence for a Saturday. Daiki checked out the potential bed-warmers for the night, but somehow no one caught his attention. He downed his sake and waved goodbye to his buddies, calling it a night. The walk to his apartment was short and slightly refreshing, though it did little to sober him up. His hand swayed just a tiny bit as he tried to put the key in the hole and he swore at the damn thing profusely, up until he forced the piece of metal where it belonged and unlocked the door. He closed it shut and put on the chain, right before the darkness thicker than that of his unlit apartment welcomed his unconscious body.

His head throbbed as though someone hit him on the head. He opened his eyes slowly and managed to remember that someone had hit him on the head. It was hard to see, the only light in the apartment came from his own computer screen. Daiki mentally checked his body and realized that he was tied to a chair, his hands cuffed, probably with his own pair of handcuffs. He swore, also mentally, and concentrated on figuring out who the dark figure in the room was. As the realization hit him, he closed his eyes shut, taking a deep breath, before opening them again. "Evening, Haru."

Haruka turned around in the chair and faced him fully. "Evening, Dai."

He didn't need the lights anymore to see her face, he knew what she looked like, knew the exact color of her eyes. Knew what was to come. Knew why she was there. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"To be completely honest, I've considered castrating you, that would give me the most satisfaction." Her voice was low and devoid of any emotion.

"My dick has nothing to do with why you're here."

"Yet, it would be so satisfying." A glint of pure malice entered her eyes, not that her counterpart could see it.

"I wonder what your upper class girlfriend would think if she met this side of you."

"She has met this side of me. It was when I was about to splatter her brains all over myself, castrating you would be a lot cleaner," Haruka pointed out.

"Yet you decided not to do it."

"Too easy. Besides, you don't need a dick to be a man."

Daiki sneered. "You know, you'd make a great psych study for someone. You dress like a man on a daily basis, yet you assert power in your most feminine form."

"Oh please, you don't need a study to explain that, it's simple… The world listens more attentively if you look like a man, but right now, I don't need that for you to listen to me. You'd be catching on to my every word if I was naked because your life is on the line. So why pretend to be someone else when I can be myself and still get what I want?"

"You're totally fucked up, kid."

"Yes, I am… and you just made it worse by screwing me over twice in a short span of time."

"None of it was ever meant to hurt you."

"Really? Cuz you and I know that it's shit. I thought calling Wadas was the worst thing you'd do to me, but I was wrong. How could you?"

"It was never about you -"

"No, it's always been about money for you."

"Like it's not for you?" Daiki raised his voice, losing his composure. "You get loads of cash off of the races, so don't be a fucking hypocrite."

"You get as much as I do, so why did you need more?" She crossed her legs, relaxing into the back of the chair.

"Opportunity came along, I grabbed on to it."

"Not everything is worth losing what you had in a first place. We built that club from the ground up, why did you have to go and fuck it all up?" Haruka's right hand played with the Beretta by her side. It wasn't the same one she kept in her bedroom, this one was slimmer, longer and had a silencer attached.

"Fuck, that club is a money making machine, it stopped being about the race the first time we placed bets. You were the one who came up with the idea, so don't shift the blame on me."

Haruka shook her head slowly. "No. It's always been about racing first and money second. Everyone needs a way to support their ability to race, that's why we got into gambling. You just felt like you could go behind our backs and milk the machine by raising the bets and setting the races up. You had a great timing too, I mean it escalated when I was dealing with Michiru. I don't like to be used, Dai. Not by anyone and especially not by you."

"So what are you gonna do? Shoot me? Cut my wings off?" His tone was almost sarcastic, but mostly mad. He couldn't believe that he was such an easy target, knowing that Haruka was catching on to his little game.

"Shooting you - too easy, though, again, satisfying. You know, I've always had a problem taking someone's life, but that sort of changed in the past few months… I guess it takes the first kill to change your attitude to things."

"Killing someone in an accident is very different from shooting someone," Daiki pointed out.

"True, but you're forgetting that I almost shot Michiru."

"_Almost_ being the operative word."

Haruka's mouth curved lightly at the corner. In a flash of a second her hand stopped playing with the gun, picked it up, and she fired. The bullet scratched the edge of Daiki's ear. He didn't even have a chance to pull away, he just sat there frozen, feeling the burning sensation spread along with the warm liquid that ran down the side of his face, crawling to the jaw and dripping down. The familiar smell of burned flesh filled the room.

"Dai, extreme circumstances call for extreme measures. Everyone I cared for in my life managed to fuck my trust up, you being the one who held off the longest. You know, I do care for you. Shit, I risked my life and freedom for your freedom, but form where I'm sitting right now, you're just like the rest of them."

The rage in his body, fueled by the pain, was subdued by the realization of just how much he had hurt her in the past few months. He had sworn to himself to protect her, he had chosen her over Sayuri, and now he put himself in the position to never regain her trust. Something human that he felt when he picked her limp body from the dirty street pinched his heart and silenced the outcry of anger, self-preservation forgotten.

"So, since money is what makes you tick, I'm not gonna kill you, I'm even not gonna bring this whole thing up to the Wings. Because, to be completely honest, we need you, you're the best security system we have and we need that now more than ever. What I did do, though, is play with your accounts. So at this exact moment, you have…" She turned to the screen and got to the bottom of the page." …about five hundred dollars left in your account."

His knuckles turned white from the pressure he was exerting. "Good thing I have more than one."

Haruka smiled. "Didn't I say _accounts_? Don't forget we set them up together… the rest weren't hard to find, I know how your brain works. So, you'll stop your machinations with the betting system, you'll keep doing everything in the Wings' interests, you won't harm me or Michiru, and I'll give you a monthly allowance from _your_ money, increasing it or decreasing it based on your behavior. If something ever happens to me, you'll never find your money again."

Forget about humanity and guilt, now Daiki was pissed more than he had ever been in his life. Haruka caught the sinister expression on his face and walked up to him, squatting to his eye-level. "Don't call Wadas or someone else either, that's not a wise financial move." She traced her index finger over the side of his face, along the red line, touching the tip of her bloodied finger to the tip of his nose and leaving a crimson mark. "Never forget that I'm just like you, no matter where I am, who I'm with, and what I wear. Don't make the mistake of screwing me over again."

She threw the key to the handcuffs in his lap, picked up her gun and walked out of the apartment, leaving her cousin to figure out his way out of the bonds and out of the larger strings she just tied his existence with.

**x x x  
**

The wind hugged her body as Haruka sped through the city, taking a detour to her house. She needed time to shake it all off, time to get closer to the light from the doorstep of the abyss. The drive helped, it always did, but especially so when she could feel the wind, which is why she had the bike, which is why she used it when she was on the brink, when she needed the strongest pull.

**x x x  
**

Michiru was sitting in one of the chairs, reading a book, when the garage door opened. It was five in the morning, but she didn't want to go to sleep before Haruka got home, she wanted to make sure that she still had a girlfriend after the letter she had found hours earlier. The lights came on and her eyes widened as she saw a black menacing-looking bike pull into the garage area, its driver matching the machine perfectly. Daiki's joking description of Haruka from a few weeks ago came to mind as Michiru's eyes traveled over the black leather-clad body, meeting the gray eyes of its owner as Haruka pulled her black helmet off. Yes, she looked like a fallen angel… or maybe not an angel at all.

"I didn't know you have a bike." Michiru watched the blonde take her shoes off.

"Not many people do."

"What exactly was it you had to do in this outfit?" Michiru stood up and approached her girlfriend.

Haruka smiled. "It's just something my alter ego enjoys."

"The bike-riding alter ego."

"Yep." Haruka wrapped her arms around the slim waist.

"I think I rather like your alter ego." Michiru cupped a breast that was clearly visible under the tight leather of the racing jacket.

"No, you don't." Haruka pressed her mouth roughly against the violinist's lips.

"Have I met you before?"

"Yes."

Michiru took another rough kiss before pulling away and looking into the dark blue eyes. "Let me guess, the gun to my temple and the hallway at the benefit?"

Haruka forgot all about the hallway, but yes, that was probably the darker side of her protecting the insecure one, so she nodded, studying the woman in front of her. The only thing she could think of ever sine Yasu showed up and she found out about Daiki's dealings was that Michiru was the only one who hadn't betrayed her trust yet, but she was bound to do so. Even the drive didn't take away the need to reassert her dominance and make sure that the smaller woman was still with her, fully, all the way, without hiding anything.

Michiru nodded in understanding. "I still like you in any shape or form." She pressed her lips as roughly against Haruka's as the blonde did earlier. She pulled away for air minutes later, her lips hurting from the abuse. "I take it back… I still want you in good shape."

Haruka smirked and placed her hands under Michiru's bottom, bringing her up so that they were even. "Let me show you in how good of a shape I am."

Michiru wrapped her legs around Haruka's waist and smiled, her hands pulling on the zipper of the jacket as her lips dove down for another offense. Haruka effortlessly walked to the kitchen and sat Michiru on the island, pulling away for a moment to allow the smaller woman to remove her jacket, followed by her shirt and the bra. Michiru's hands traveled to the waistline of Haruka's pants and her eyes flew open as she pulled out an object that did not belong in her girlfriend's pants. She brought the gun between them, looking questioningly at Haruka. Haruka grabbed it by the silencer and threw it on the counter, shaking her head in response to Michiru's silent question. It didn't matter at the moment, maybe she would explain later. The racer's hands traveled to the edge of the shirt on the low of Michiru's back, stretching the material until it reached the breaking point and Haruka ripped the cloth all the way up, startling the violinist.

Michiru leaned slightly backwards and watched as Haruka pulled the torn shirt from the front of her body and her arms in one rough motion. "I have to say, your strength is a definite turn on," Michiru murmured before covering the smirking lips with her own, feeding off of the blonde's arrogance. Their tongues battled as their hands unbuttoned their pants. Michiru tightened her legs around Haruka's waist and pulled herself off of the counter, allowing Haruka to remove her slacks. The cool stone met her exposed cheeks and made her yelp. Regaining her composure, Michiru unwrapped her legs and pushed Haruka's pants down with her toes, making them fall in a pool of leather on the floor. Haruka bit on Michiru's bottom lip before her mouth made a wet descent to the perfectly shaped breasts. To Haruka's displeasure, she found the bra still on; a problem that was resolved in two quick rips. A satisfied growl was combined with a deep moan as Haruka's teeth tortured the perky nipple. A hand sneaked its way between the breasts and Haruka pushed Michiru down, the smaller woman landing flat on the counter. After a moment's hesitation, Haruka lowered herself down and parted Michiru's legs, tasting her wetness through the lace of the thong. Haruka's tongue made its way past the barrier and played with the flesh beneath until Michiru almost whimpered. Haruka froze as Michiru sat abruptly, pulling on the short strands of blonde hair, forcing Haruka's head up.

"Why don't you join me here?" It was more of an order than a request.

Haruka took a step back, watching as Michiru grabbed her racing jacket and slipped into it. If she hesitated responding to the order, her apprehension was wiped away at the sight of the naked goddess splayed on the stone counter, the black leather making her look even sexier, if that was possible. Haruka pulled herself on the counter and crawled over the seductress, dipping for another round of tongue fights. Shortly both were panting, their thighs rubbing against the wet locks, their bodies melting into one. Michiru smirked and bit Haruka's lower lip, almost drawing blood, similarly to what the blonde had done earlier.

"Two can play this game." She sneaked from underneath the racer, Haruka turning on her back to relieve the pressure from her arms. Michiru mentally measured the length of the counter and surmised that her best option to not fall off of the island and do what she wanted was the kitschy 69. She placed her body over Haruka's and placed butterfly kisses over the insides of the racer's thighs, making her way to the inviting folds. Haruka breathed in sharply as Michiru's teeth brushed over her erect flesh. Midnight blue eyes opened with a mischievous glint.

"You can say that again."

Michiru shuddered as Haruka grabbed her hips and buried her head between Michiru's thighs, her tongue matching the smaller woman's actions. Each tried to outdo the other, switching between gentleness and roughness until neither could handle it anymore, their bodies erupting simultaneously, their aggression drained by the ferocity of the release. Michiru turned around and covered Haruka's body with her own, neither able to move any more than that.

"That was…" Michiru searched for words, enjoying the even rise and fall of the chest underneath her own. "...something."

Haruka smiled, looking at the ceiling. Everything that the ride could not cure, the sex did. Whatever apprehension she had, the woman in her arms was no longer part of, and it had nothing to do with the physical act. It was the connection they shared which was evident by the way Michiru reacted. She didn't just run away or accept the aggression, she responded in the way Haruka needed, as an equal, as someone who could handle Haruka who was close to breakdown. She hugged Michiru closer and looked at the top of her head. "No matter what anyone says, I've never felt so good with anyone but you." Haruka could swear she felt Michiru's heart beat faster.

Michiru raised her head, her chin resting above Haruka's right breast. Her eyes connected with Haruka's and she felt drowning in the oddest shade she had never seen before. It was a mix of gray and blue and she could detect a tinge of green. Like three faces of Haruka melting into one.

"I love you." Michiru wasn't sure if she just mouthed it or if the sound came out, but she guessed Haruka heard either way because her eyes warmed up even more.

Haruka's own heart matched the fast rhythm of the woman on top. No one had ever loved her… not once, not ever. The only thing she wanted right now was to hold on and never let this feeling go… never let the woman in her hands go. Unable and unwilling to voice any of that, she kissed Michiru with every feeling the confession brought out in her.

**x x x  
**

The cars flew through the streets as the drivers tried to pull ahead and gain some leverage. Michiru's eyes came back down to the screens, customarily checking the positions of the police cars within the area. She had been doing this ever since Haruka let her in on the bigger picture; she had the time to get acquainted with the protocols and knew exactly how much was at stake each and every time the race was held. Hiro was displeased in the beginning, the "security booth" was something he considered his turf and didn't particularly welcome the intruder; but he didn't have much choice in the matter. He was busy switching the angles of the live cams for the web viewers when someone tapped him on his shoulder.

He span around and found Michiru staring at one of the screens, her hand still on his shoulder. "What?"

She silently pointed at the red dot five blocks away, steadily moving in their direction.

"Fuck!" He jumped up, throwing his chair backwards. "We've got to cancel it."

Michiru shook her head in silence, reluctant to stop the race that had so much riding on it. Besides, she couldn't exactly picture what looked like upwards of fifty cars just disappearing into the night in the short period of time that they had. Her mind processed the options at the same speed Haruka's car was going, until it found one.

"No. We're not canceling the race."

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Hiro's hand was hovering above the panic button.

Michiru reached out and grabbed his wrist, projecting more strength than Hiro expected her to have. "I may be, but we're not putting all these people in danger. I need you to listen to me and do exactly what I say."

He stared at her in disbelief, but the look she gave him prevented any objections he was about to spit out.

"You are going to jump in your car and create a diversion. You're going to drive as far away as you can, taking that cop with you."

"What if I get caught?"

"Then give Haruka a call, we'll get you out."

"You _are_ fucking nuts."

"Either you go now or we're all screwed. The choice is yours." She let go of his wrist and watched him without any expression.

Hiro came back to his senses in another few seconds and dashed for his car, pulling out through the crowd and heading in the police car's direction. Michiru forced her heart to beat slower and watched the screen, her shaking hands in tight fists. She let a strangled breath out as the red dot accelerated and moved in the opposite direction, soon disappearing from the area covered by the screen. Michiru raised her eyes to the larger monitors and watched as the black Enzo swerved into the sidewalk and gained advantage over the other cars, cutting the gray Enzo off right in front of a sharp turn, Haruka's car swerving to avoid impact, which in turn let the Lamborghini get ahead. Yasu came through the finish line, followed by Daiki, Ichiro and Haruka, followed by the rest of the drivers. Michiru cursed internally, but stayed at the post, not wanting to miss something just because she was outraged by the woman.

**x x x  
**

Haruka exited the car, slamming the door and walking away without a word, avoiding her fellow racers and the driver that almost sent her into a street pole. She wasn't in a good mood, but the worst thing she could do was confront Yasu, that was exactly what the woman wanted in the first place and Haruka wasn't about to give her the satisfaction.

"Where's Hiro?" ehe half-barked as she approached Michiru.

"Hopefully driving and not in jail," Michiru responded, already shutting down some of the computers.

"Excuse me?" Haruka pulled out cables as her narrowed eyes landed on the smaller woman.

"There was a cop coming this way, so I told Hiro to be the bait and get him out. He'll call you if he gets caught." She didn't even blink, continuing on with her task.

"That's against every protocol we have." Haruka's voice was chilling.

"I know, but it was a better way out than making all these people leave in a panic."

"They know better than panic, they've been through this before."

"I sacrificed one for the better of the rest, you have a problem with that?" Michiru finally stopped and just faced the blonde.

Haruka considered the woman in front of her for a long while before a smile crept to the corner of her mouth. "Nope. So long as I'm one of the rest. You did risk having more cops come our way, though."

"That didn't happen, so the point is moot."

"It is." Haruka walked around the table and pulled the smaller woman in for a short deep kiss. "Good job, mermaid. Just don't do it again." She kissed her forehead and walked away to oversee people leaving for the location of the after party.

"How cute."

Michiru slowly turned around towards the melodic voice. "What can I do for you, Yasu?" She learned her lesson a month ago when she had met the woman and had sworn that she would never get to her the same way again. Therefore, Michiru always put on her aristocratic mask of propriety and acted as a lady would in the presence of the menacing beauty. Her collected front and polite demeanor, coupled with her dry sarcasm seemed to have the desired effect: it pissed Yasu off.

"For starters you can give me my money."

Michiru smiled and extended the night's winnings to the woman in front of her. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Yasu smiled as though the two of them were best friends sharing a good moment. "You can also disappear from the face of the earth and leave my baby girl alone."

"As enticing as that sounds, I'm afraid I can't do that." Michiru's smile never wavered.

"She's gonna get tired of you, you know? She's like the wind, she needs freedom. You're like the ball with a chain… not her style."

"Actually, I'm more like the sea… I love it when the wind ruffles my surface, creating the waves, and the wind loves when I embrace its force and spirit… we've been created for each other."

Yasu laughed out loud. "How poetic. Too bad she's not as articulate as you are, she may have enjoyed the comparison. Though, you do know that already don't you? You and she are so different… you have sex, but nothing else in common. How long do you think that'll last? You have nothing… not even trust."

Michiru's objections died on her lips as the ever confident woman turned around and left with an elegant swoop of her hair. It wasn't that Michiru was insecure about what they had or didn't have in common, it was the fact that this was a second person to bring this up in a week. Granted that neither of these people seemed to know Haruka as well as she did, but there was always that sneaking self-doubt that would crawl into one's soul, whether they wanted it or not, when planted properly. Michiru sighed in frustration and finished packing.

**x x x  
**

Haruka was watching as the screens were loaded into one of the trucks, chatting with the driver. The conversation died down as the brunette in tight jeans and black shirt approached them. The young man excused himself and went around the truck to see if he could occupy himself with something out of the presence of the two racers.

"What do you want?" Haruka's voice was like steel, and so was her body.

"I just wanted to say I was sorry," Yasu murmured innocently.

"I don't need your excuses." Haruka didn't move as the smaller woman approached.

"Sure you don't, but here it is nevertheless…" Yasu took another step forward and wrapped her arms around Haruka's neck.

"What the fuck do you th-" Haruka placed her hands on Yasu's waist to push her away and froze a second later as the slim fingers of the woman flat against her pushed on that sensitive spot under the cerebellum, effectively using Haruka's own weapon against her, paralyzing her in the spot.

"I've heard you used this on Ichi, don't forget who taught you that trick, baby girl," Yasu whispered against Haruka's lips before covering them in a forceful kiss.

Haruka was fighting the nausea both from the pain and the idea of being kissed by Yasu when her eyes connected with the wide ocean blues directly opposite the seemingly kissing couple. She willed her body to oblige and push the brunette away, but her stubbornness wasn't always enough. Helplessly, she watched as Michiru turned around and ran down the street.

Yasu pulled away at the sound of the click clacking of the heels and watched the violinist run with satisfaction. "I always win, Haru. I always do."

She was still gloating at the retreating figure when Haruka's body decided to come back under its owner's control and the back of Haruka's hand connected forcefully with Yasu's cheek, sending the unexpecting woman down to the ground.

Black eyes shot up to the cold gray ones, all masks gone from Yasu's face. She wiped the speckle of blood from her broken lip and scowled at the blonde, the grimace transforming her beautiful face into an ugly one. "You will regret this."

Haruka's scowl matched Yasu's. "Use me again and you won't have time to regret it."


	24. Payback

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 24**

**Payback**

Michiru finished packing the electronics and went in search of her girlfriend. Walking through the dissipating crowd, she came to a truck that was being loaded and asked one of the people she knew if sawn ad seen Haruka. The young man pointed to the other side of the truck and went back to putting away cables that powered the large monitors. Michiru walked around the vehicle and was met with a scene out of her nightmares. Only she knew she was fully awake.

Haruka was standing with her back against the truck, her hands on the waist of a woman leaning into her. Yasu's hands were placed securely around the blonde's neck, their lips in a heated lock. Michiru felt frozen to the spot, Yasu's words running through her head.

"_You have nothing… not even trust."_

Her eyes connected with Haruka's and once the blonde had no reaction to her girlfriend's presence, Michiru's legs unrooted and propelled her to move, as fast and as far away as she possibly could. She ran down the street, not caring that she was risking serious bodily harm to herself by the mere act of running in high heels. Not caring where she was running towards or that she was all alone. She stopped for a second, bending down to catch her breath, her heart deafeningly pounding in her ears. She straightened out and was set for another dash when someone yanked her roughly by the upper arm, holding her in place.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Let go of me!" She hissed back, her voice raspy from running.

"Not a chance."

"Let me go! I want to be alone!" She tried to pull her arm out of the strong grip, failing to break free.

"Do you even realize that you're running by yourself in the middle of the night in the worst district of Tokyo? Even cops rarely come here, you have a death wish?"

"What the hell do you care?" She stared in the unreadable eyes.

"I care because this isn't a promenade. Last time I let someone run away from problems here, she barely made it without hospital's attention, and she grew up on these streets, unlike you." Daiki started moving towards his car that he left at the beginning of the block when he spotted the running woman and followed her on foot. He knew that Michiru was no match for him strength wise, so she was forced to come whether she wanted or not. The voice of reason broke though the haze of adrenalin as Michiru finally took in her surroundings, noticing suggestively dressed women and suspiciously looking men on both sides of the street, their attention on her and her companion. She shivered slightly as Daiki opened the passenger door and she slipped inside, suddenly relieved by the security of the vehicle.

Daiki got in and revved the engine, slowly leaving the curb and driving further into the depths of the red light district. Michiru was watching as the streets became darker, less crowded and dirtier. A slight chill went through her bones as she realized that she was in a car with a man who had been humiliated by her girlfriend and most likely hated her guts at this point. How nice of Michiru to give him a chance to get back at Haruka so easily. She looked at him, unable to hide the worry in her face. "Where are you taking me?"

Daiki threw her a quick glance. "You'll see."

Michiru clapped her wet hands in her lap and watched as they passed through more streets, the out of place car finally stopping in a narrow dark alley. She had no idea where they were and if he left her there, she doubted she would make it back. Michiru shivered at the thought and looked around. There were very little windows that faced the alley, and those were either painted over or the drapes were pulled tight on the inside. The rusty fire escapes looked like they were death traps, not lifesaving routes. There were a few overfilled dumpsters on the sides and Michiru wasn't sure if the car would fit between them. Fear crawled into her system, all kinds of possibilities of her being trapped here with Daiki playing in her imagination. She jumped in surprise as Daiki lowered the windows, allowing the sounds of the night to penetrate the interior. It was eerily quiet and still, the silence broken by the meowing down the alley that sounded like a cry more than an animal sound, and something that was deathly alike whispers, only Michiru couldn't see anyone who would make the sound. The stench of garbage and human excrement offended her senses next, making her face contort in a gagging reflex. Daiki, who was watching her the entire time, closed the windows back, his point taken without words.

"See that garbage container by the second fire escape?" He pointed at the spot where rats were working on a piece of garbage and Michiru nodded. "That's where I found her just a bit over ten years ago. She lay in the middle of the alley, face sideways in the puddle of mud, her bony body covered in rags, the dirty material on her back soaked with blood. I was called in for a shooting, which was surprising in itself around here, mostly people just don't care. When I got here, I could hear them whisper, but no one so much as opened the window to look at what was going on. I thought that she was a young boy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, so I took her to the hospital and then took her in, nursed her back. She's the most stubborn person I've met in this life, so she made those two months a living hell. She distrusted everyone and wasn't afraid of anything. I realized soon enough that that thirteen-year-old kid had so much knowledge of the ugliness of this world that I would never know in my entire lifetime. There were three shocks that she delivered to me in those two months. First was that she was a girl and not a boy, second was that we were related, and the third was when I found her reading one of my books. They're slightly out of order, but that's besides the point. I grew up in a middle class family and always thought of people that live around here as the scum. I still do, but some of them really aren't. Can you imagine learning everything you could on the streets? A homeless guy taught her how to read and she dug through garbage containers for books, newspapers and magazines, until she figured that she could go to the libraries if she looked decent enough. She's really smart, especially for someone who's never been to school, and every time I forget about the power of her brain, I end up losing." He chuckled sadly as his current financial dilemma broke his reverie.

"But all that brain power can't change who you are, it only intensifies everything you've learned from experience. Among other things, she has learned time and again not to trust people. If you think that she was going to run after you after what you saw, you're wrong. You didn't bother to wait for an explanation and made your own conclusions… She, on the other hand, was already hurt by being used again. I'm not sure what Yasu did to get her in that position, I wasn't there, but I'm sure it was something creative. I was there, however, when Haruka slapped her and sent the bitch to the ground, which, of course, is only gonna escalate things again." He sighed, grabbing the wheel tighter.

"I can bet you whatever money I have left that she went for a ride to take some of the edge off before she comes anywhere near you. She always runs before dealing with problems, which is a good thing, because otherwise she would explode, you would add the fuel to the fire, and she would shut down again. I've done both: let her run and vent and hold on and force her to deal. The first works a lot better, with the exception of the time she decided to run out here after we had an argument. Instead of driving she ran the streets, until she literally ran into some gang of punks, you can imagine how well that ended. She can protect herself, but she was simply outnumbered and her rage wasn't enough against the four of them. I went after her eventually, finding her in time because that was when she went to the ground with the remaining bastards kicking her. Being as stubborn as she is, she never made it to the hospital, but she learned her lesson. I don't want you to learn the same lesson, you'd get raped before you get killed out here. Further, I don't want you to make the same mistakes I made of losing temper and then losing her trust. You care for her, don't make the mistake of losing her."

Michiru processed the information as silence fell, broken only by the quiet humming of the engine. Even if Haruka had been kissing Yasu on her own volition, what would that mean? It was a kiss, no more than that and Haruka had told her that she wouldn't sleep with anyone else and that no one made her feel like Michiru did. Michiru knew her better than breaking her word, Haruka had never lied. Not once, so why would she doubt her? Other than the insecurities planted by Yasu. It really was just the space and the time that Michiru needed after she witnessed the scene. She promised Haruka she wouldn't leave her and she meant it, she just needed time to recollect herself, push the pain away, sort through what happened. Her eyes finally left the dirty pavement by the dumpster and searched Daiki's face. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because contrary to popular belief, I do care about her. I come here every time I need a reminder of that. Especially if I'm mad at her, it helps me remember why she matters as much as she does and why she does things the way she does. This is where Haru comes from. I did some stupid shit that I didn't think would affect her as much as it did and… there aren't many ways, if any, I can get back into her good graces. If I can't, I need her to have someone who cares about her. And you do."

Another long silence enveloped them as both thought about the blonde racer. "So you think that you can make me care about her in your place because you took me here and had a confessing moment?"

Daiki's eyes widened at the cold accusing tone of his passenger. He had always thought that Michiru's soft, perhaps a bit naive, side complimented Haruka's roughness, but he saw none of that softness in the woman next to him right now. Her fear and worry were gone, replaced with something alike judgmental arrogance. Daiki didn't consider himself a bad judge of character, quite the opposite, but at this moment he felt like he didn't know Michiru at all. She wasn't the noble aristocrat she may have seemed to the society, she wasn't an obsessed and weak drug addict, she wasn't a meek girlfriend who followed her lover's every step, nor was she a deeply hurt woman in love, all of which Daiki had categorized Michiru as at some point. She was something else altogether. "I told you all of this for your own benefit."

"Sanu, I'm glad that you told me your point of view on what happened, it explains a lot, especially why you're not going to use me against Haruka. However, you haven't told me anything I didn't already know. Now, knowing that I know, you think I'd just run away crying and create a mess of things just because of a kiss?"

She searched his black eyes and saw that she was right in her hypothesis. He did think that that was exactly what she would do. Michiru scoffed. "Then you think the same way Yasu does. I know Haruka, I understand her nature. She's a flirt, she needs her space. For all I care, she may have kissed Yasu on her own volition. You know why?"

Daiki honestly had no clue, so he shook his head.

"Because I trust her. I love her and I trust her. What we have is not something I would risk losing because of a stupid kiss. Just because you are selfish enough to hurt someone you care for, doesn't mean we're all like that."

"Didn't seem like that when you were running blindly through the streets."

Michiru's eyes narrowed, never leaving his black ones. "I needed space, we're all human. I learned to never act on my first impulse the day Yasu showed up, that's all. I didn't want to get in a stupid cat fight with Yasu, it would've made things worse, not better. It was never my intention to run away from Haruka."

"Should've just left you there," Daiki spat.

Michiru's face suddenly lit up by a wide smile. "Now that I did appreciate. Thank you."

"Fucking women, I'll never understand you." Daiki shook his head and put his car in reverse, pulling out of the alley and getting the hell out of his dark memory trip.

**x x x  
**

The garage door was open, Haruka was sitting on her bike, her chin on her folded hands that rested on the bar, watching the empty street as she considered where she should start looking for the smaller woman. She went for a drive after she had left the race, which alleviated some of her agitation from being used yet again. When she got home and was met by an empty and dark house, her mood suddenly changed, the annoyance and hatred replaced by sadness and worry. She had always been a loaner, but she no longer wanted to be alone. Someone loved her for the first time and she wanted that someone to keep loving her, to be there by her side, so she got on the bike and considered her options, having no idea where Michiru would have gone.

The sight of a red Lamborghini that stopped in front of her house made her heart skip a beat and then do a little somersault as the sea-green-haired woman stepped out of the passenger side and walked down the driveway. Haruka noted that the car left, without ever taking her eyes off of the approaching woman, almost afraid that it was just a vision and that she would disappear into thin air. She did not. Haruka straightened out as Michiru stopped next to her, both looking at each other in silence.

"I -"

Michiru put a finger to Haruka's lips, silencing the explanation. She didn't need it, she saw it in her eyes. "Do you have another helmet?"

"What?"

"I want you to take me for a ride… do you have another helmet?"

A wide grin played at Haruka's lips as she pulled Michiru close and kissed her hungrily, wanting nothing but to taste the lips that she loved, erasing the memory of the others. Michiru didn't protest, the intensity serving as just another reassurance of the feelings the blonde was unable to admit to.

"I don't, but you can have mine," Haruka finally said as they parted.

"Is that wise?"

"Don't you trust me?" They both knew that the question had more than the obvious meaning.

"With my life," Michiru admitted honestly.

Haruka gave her another quick peck and handed her the helmet that was in front of her. "You should put a jacket on, though."

"Don't go anywhere." Michiru ran off to get a jacket and kick off her high-heeled shoes and replace them with more appropriate ones.

"Not a chance," Haruka mumbled under her breath as she watched Michiru's acrobatics in amusement. The smaller woman returned and they drove into the night, the wind whispering reassuringly into their ears.

**x x x  
**

The engine revved, pulling the fierce machine forward at a dangerous speed, breaking the silence of the night with its cry as the gears shifted. The black vehicle pulled to the guarded gates that parted at its approach, allowing for an unobstructed entrance. Yasu sped down the long driveway and parked in a spacious garage, noting that her brother's car was already there. She killed the engine and got out, forcefully slamming the door shut. Walking past the security guards, she entered the large mansion and walked the rooms, searching for her brother.

"I'm in the study," Ichiro yelled at the sound of impatient heels on the marble floor.

Yasu walked in the direction he indicated and halted in front of the chair he was sitting in. Ichiro put the book he was reading down and looked at her, raising a brow as he inspected her face. "What happened to your lip?"

Yasu's hand instinctively shot up to the side of her broken lip and then the cheek that felt swollen from the slap. "The little bitch hit me."

"Michiru slapped you?" Ichiro asked, genuinely surprised.

Yasu sat in the chair across from him and raised both of her hands, dismissing his silly guess. "No, she's to meek to ever raise a hand at me. Haru did."

Now both of Ichiro's eyebrows shot upwards. "What did you do? She's never hit you before, despite all the shit you've done to her."

"Whose side are you on anyway?" she spat.

"You know the answer to that."

Yasu's lips turned into a thin line. "She's not relenting, I want you to take care of her."

"You want me to take care of Haru?"

"No!" Yasu was losing her temper. "I want you to take care of her little whore."

"My, are you losing your touch? It's been a month and they're still together."

Yasu jumped off of her chair and towered over her brother. "Don't you dare make fun of me!"

"Or what?" He raised his head up, his hands folded across his chest. "You're gonna have me killed too? You know it's not an option, you're out of family members."

Yasu squinted her eyes and slapped the man with her open hand as hard as she could. Ichiro's head jerked to the right as his hand grabbed on to her wrist, twisting it to make Yasu come down on her knees in front of him. "I am not your little toy as much as you think, Ya. You may be older, but I'm still the man here. Now, you have your little problem, you take care of it. I have more serious things to deal with than your silly little games."

She swung backwards as he let her go as abruptly as he caught her. "This isn't a little game. She's mine."

"Haru's never been yours, never will. Go fuck someone to relieve that stress and stop dreaming. Haru is not one of your little girls. Don't forget that she's your equal."

"She doesn't have guts to be my equal." Yasu stood up, rubbing her arm.

"Unlike you, she does her own dirty work, so I'd say it's the other way around." Ichiro stood as well, their eyes meeting at the same level. "Have some sleep, Ya."

She watched him walk away, fury filling every member of her body. Taking a deep breath she left the library and walked upstairs. A maid was unfortunate enough to get in her view on the way to her bedroom. Yasu grabbed the young woman's arm and pulled her inside the room.

"Wada-sama, I -"

"Shut the fuck up." She slapped the shorter woman, using the moment of shock to push her body to the bed, and climb on top of the maid. She grabbed her wrists and pulled them above the crying woman's head, pressing her lips savagely against those of the young girl.

**x x x  
**

Michiru was having an extremely vivid dream that she didn"t particularly want to wake up from. The rays of sunlight, however, were not cooperating with her wish as they tickled her face. Waking, she thought that perhaps she should play the violin before bedtime, like she had the night before, more often, especially if it led to restful nights and pleasant dreams. As her hazy eyes opened, the sensation spreading through her now mostly awake body didn't go away. Michiru looked to Haruka's side and didn't find her there. She pulled the blanket gently away and found a set of midnight blue eyes watching her from below her navel.

"What are you doing?"

Haruka placed a teasing kiss against Michiru's desire and made her way up to her face, placing butterfly kisses along the way. "I was once told that it is very romantic to be awakened by someone making love to you."

Michiru giggled until a pair of soft lips covered her mouth, replacing her happy playful mood with a happy horny one. Haruka's fingers played in the folds that her mouth left while her tongue inspected the depths of Michiru's mouth.

"Must've been a wise woman," Michiru breathed against Haruka's lips.

"She is." Haruka slowly made her way back down, spending time on every sensitive spot of her girlfriend's body, until Michiru pleaded for release. The blonde obliged, making sure that the wave of pleasure carried the lithe body below her to the very shore of rapture.

Haruka watched the beautiful woman in front of her as the latter gradually returned back to earth. The racer smiled and cupped her cheek, stroking Michiru's cheekbone with her thumb, looking in the ocean blue eyes that opened unhurriedly. "Happy Birthday, mermaid."

Michiru pulled away and stared at the woman to her side. "How did you know?"

"It's something your girlfriend should know, don't you think?"

Michiru smiled wide. "Yeah." Her head came back to rest on the pillow. "Copy cat," she teased.

Haruka laughed and cuddled up to the warm body. "Okay, birthday girl, what else would you like?"

Michiru looked at the ceiling and pretended to think. "Hmm… you?" She looked at Haruka. "No, wait, I already have you." She looked back up, trying not to laugh at the expression on Haruka's face. "Hmm… tough… I kinda have everything I need." She turned back to the blonde and grew more serious. "I want you to teach me to drive."

Haruka cocked a brow skeptically. "You've been digging your nails into my car seat for the first few months of riding in a car, why would you want to drive one?"

"I dug them in because you drive like a maniac, it has nothing to do with me not wanting to drive."

Haruka sweatdropped. "But for the fact that you're asking _me_ to teach you driving."

"Yep."

"Are you going to bitch at me?"

"It's my birthday, I have a right to."

"Eh… okay. How about after today? You're not gonna learn in one day."

"I will do my best not to offend your senses after today." Michiru smiled brilliantly.

"Deal." Haruka got up and pulled Michiru, turning her towards the shower. "Go, cleanse yourself."

"Where are you going?"

"To make breakfast," Haruka said confidently.

Michiru cocked her head to the side, turning to the woman who was already by the door. "Please don't burn water."

"I'm not you!" Haruka ran out as a pillow was thrown her way.

"It's unsanitary to cook naked!" Michiru yelled, entering the bathroom.

"I'm not as dirty as you are!"

"You want to rethink that? You're dirty with me!" Michiru was laughing openly as they kept shouting to each other.

"Fine!" Haruka suddenly appeared behind her, making both of them get inside the shower stall on impact. "Then I get to have you again before breakfast!"

Michiru was still laughing as the warm water poured over them and her back met the tiled wall. "Maybe it will be the other way around… today is _my_ birthday! You have to do what I ask."

"It doesn't sound like you're asking." Haruka's hands were already roaming the smaller body. "But sure… consider that part of the present."

Michiru smiled triumphantly and pressed her lips to her girlfriend's mouth, for once looking forward to her birthday.

**x x x  
**

"Do you want to drive to the studio?" Haruka asked as she watched Michiru get her violin.

"Three driving lessons are not nearly enough for me to drive downtown, especially not without a license."

"Nah, I have confidence in you."

"Haruka!"

"What?" She opened the passenger side for Michiru, who put the violin by her seat.

"I'm not as arrogant as you are."

"Sometimes I wonder," Haruka mumbled. She drove to the studio where Michiru was working on her new album, having decided that an almost year-long absence was not a good thing even for someone who played primarily for charity's sake. She had enough material for at least one album and had contacted her agent a couple of weeks back to arrange a recording schedule.

"Did you call Jun?"

Michiru looked up. "No, I'll do it when I know that I'm done, you know how it works."

"I do. I'm sorry I can't pick you up," Haruka said with an honest note of regret in her voice.

Michiru brushed her fingers against Haruka's cheek. "It's okay, you have your business, I have mine. It's not like you can skip your monthly meeting."

"Wouldn't have been a problem if they didn't decide to schedule it not on a Friday."

"Ruka, it's just a car ride. I'll see you home tonight."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Haruka rolled her eyes. Was she getting too attached? _'Let's not turn into stalker Michiru from last year, Tenoh.'_ She pulled in front of the tall building and exited the car to open the door for Michiru. "Have fun."

"You too." Michiru gave her a quick kiss and the blonde flew away in a gust of wind.

**x x x  
**

"Yes, I'll be waiting in a café across the street from my studio." Michiru nodded at the sound technician as she left the soundproof room and exited into the hall. "Okay, I'll see you then." She walked through the empty hallways of the recording company. "Thanks, Jun."

Michiru hung up her phone and took the elevator down, waving at the concierge and the security guard as she exited the building through the side door, heading for the small café that she had noticed a week ago and had been wanting to visit ever since. It was a warm night in the middle of the week, but not many people seemed to enjoy it outside. Michiru checked the street for traffic and was about to step off of the curb when someone grabbed her from the back. A strong arm was firmly positioned around her waist, picking the violinist off of her feet. She yelped in surprise, but couldn't do much more than that as a meaty hand was placed over her mouth. She swung her violin case wildly, trying to hit whoever was pulling her into the alley couple buildings down. Her feet were hitting the man behind her, but to no avail. The case was yanked out of her hand by someone else just as they entered the alley. A stretch limo moved forward and blocked the sentry's pending, haccessible alley from any pedestrians of the night. Michiru was trying to understand what was going on as two other men came into view, though it was hard not to know what was about to happen. She was let go abruptly, falling to her knees from the swinging motion of her legs as she tried to kick her captor. The pavement scratched the palms of her hands, her knees protected by a thin layer of her dress pants. She scrambled to her feet, only to fall back down as a fist connected with her jaw, making a sickly cracking noise. For a second Michiru thought she saw stars as bells rang in her head, overpowering all of her thoughts. Her shaking hand touched the surface of her face, right where the punch had been delivered, but was yanked away as her attacker pulled her upwards. Two men were standing on both sides of the alley, presumably guarding it from some unlucky passer-buyer. The bigger man who carried her earlier stood in front of her, his hand in a tight fist. He swung again, this time his punch landed in Michiru's stomach. She felt the air escape her as she doubled over, the soaring pain in her middle overshadowing that in her face.

"What do you want?" she finally forced out, but was met with another punch to her stomach, doubling the pain. This time she didn't try to get up from her kneeling position, knowing that she would get no answer. She gathered the remaining strength that she wouldn't bother using against the man who was at least double her size, and instead breathed in and screamed at the top of her lungs: "HEEE -"

She never made it to the end of the word as another blow was delivered to her jaw, making her unable to breathe and definitely less so to scream. The world was spinning around, the sounds and smells of the alley no longer invading her system. Preparing herself for another punch, Michiru was surprised to be met with a shoe instead. Her body was propelled a few feet backwards on impact, where she lay on her side, wondering if she would get out of there alive. After what seemed like minutes, but in reality was seconds, she tried to crouch, coughing on the metallic taste of her own blood and spitting the dark liquid out. Her kidney was assaulted next as a kick to her side brought her back down to the ground, sideways. She could no longer tell who, what or where was hitting her as the agonizing pain spread through her body; she could only concentrate on not choking on the mixture of vomit and blood and covering her injured face against the blows. When she thought that the blissful darkness would finally take her out of her agony, the assault stopped and the man stepped away. She lay still, not wanting to know what was ahead of her and hoping that it was simply over; that they had had enough, that they had gotten what they came there for. Eventually she turned her head unsurely, removing her hand enough to try and see what was going on. The blood froze in her veins as familiar metal heels were the only thing that came into view. She tried to swallow on reflex and choked again instead, turning her head down to spit out the blood.

"Oh no, I want you to watch this."

Yasu grabbed her by the hair and turned Michiru to face her. Her black eyes traveled along Michiru's body and the violinist was sure they gleamed with sick satisfaction, since she couldn't see them in the darkness of the alley. The smirk, however, was clearly visible. Yasu lowered her head down and placed a kiss on Michiru's bloody lips, causing the violinist to shudder on the inside. Yasu let go of Michiru's hair and grabbed her left wrist, twisting Michiru to turn to her side. She dropped the hand down to the ground and squatted in front of the violinist, their eyes meeting in the dark.

"You took something away from me, I'll take something away from you."

Michiru was still looking at Yasu's face when the woman suddenly rose and excruciating pain radiated from Michiru's left hand, finally taking her under the cover of darkness.

**x x x  
**

The café was small and cozy, the lights dimmed to create an intimate atmosphere. The bell chimed lightly as an elderly man dressed in a suit entered, his eyes traveling along the half-empty row of tables. A young waitress smiled at him from behind the counter in welcome and Jun approached her, after not finding his charge in the room.

"Good Evening, sir, can I help you?"

"Good Evening, I hope so." Jun smiled back politely and asked if the waitress had seen a sea-green-haired woman in her establishment. She had not, which left Jun with an uneasy feeling. He thanked the woman and left the café, looking around as he stood on the street in front of it. He dialed Michiru's number, but was sent to voicemail after five rings, indicating that her phone was not off, but rather ignored, which didn't make sense when the violinist knew the driver may be calling. A deep frown settled in Jun's features as he walked across the street to the recording studio. The guard on duty greeted him by the door and confirmed that the young violinist had indeed departed about half an hour prior, exiting through the door on the side of the café. The driver left the building and walked down the street, dialing Michiru's number again. A faint sound of her ringtone reached him as he walked a few buildings down and the man prayed that his charge dropped the phone in what looked like an alley. He walked around the corner and stepped into the dimly-lit area, quickening his step at the sight of a form on the ground.

The ringing of a phone was now clearly audible from a purse that lay on the ground not far from an open violin case, the instrument broken in half. Jun's face drained of all color as he leaned over the lifeless form, turning the body around and staring in horror at the mutilated form of his charge. Her face was swollen and covered in blood, more liquid was visible on the ground by her head and in her messed hair. Without inspection it was obvious that more damage was done to the rest of her body, but what caught Jun's attention after her face was the bloodied palm of her left hand. His own hand reached to it on impulse and he picked it up, staring in disbelief at the broken fingers and a gushing round wound in the back of Michiru's hand. In the next instant one of Jun's hands was dialing the emergency number, while the other was checking for pulse. The man breathed out a sigh of relief as he detected a faint and unsteady beat.


	25. Change

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 25**

**Change**

"I have a feeling that our friend is going to set up traps and see which ones get leaked out. That's my best guess." Daiki sipped on his wine.

They were standing as a small group at a political function and it was rather hard to discuss business when all of them knew that the man they were talking about was lurking around. Haruka personally kept an eye on Eiko, knowing that the woman was by her husband's side, serving as a perfect warning in case of his approach.

"Then we need to be especially alert in the weeks to come, in case the leak doesn't reach our ears." She removed a nonexistent speckle of dust from her black suit's shoulder.

"It was brought to my attention that the protocol was broken at the last event." Sasake looked straight at Haruka.

She let her hand fall back down to her side and met the man's gaze levelly. "It was, there were no casualties and a premature finale to the event was prevented."

"You know as well as I do, Tenoh-san, that one exception leads to another until a total disregard of rules takes place."

"Don't worry, Sasake-san, the incident was one of a kind and will most likely not happen in the future. It was an isolated event."

"Would the outcome be different if it was someone other than your girlfriend who broke the rules?" Clasco asked, his light green eyes searching Haruka's unreadable exterior in vain.

"Even if it was, what does that have to do with this particular incident?" She was fuming on the inside, but none of her anger spilled to the exterior.

"It is quite uncharacteristic of you, Tenoh-san, to make exceptions in the first place," Clasco pointed out.

"That's my business, not yours, Clasco-san, your side of this matter has been clarified and is no longer a cause for discussion, so shall we leave it at that?" She gave him a menacing look.

Haruka listened to the discussion of their financials as her eyes followed Eiko, who stepped away from her husband to take a phone call. The older blonde walked to the side of the room not far from Haruka, but out of the racer's earshot, and flipped her cell open. Haruka brought her attention back to the conversation at hand, supplying the numbers she was asked, before her eyes checked on the woman clad in a simple navy evening dress again. Haruka's gaze fell on Eiko in the exact moment as the cellphone dropped to the floor, its back ricocheting a few inches away, and Eiko clapped a hand over her mouth, stifling a scream.

A bad omen was written all over the older woman's posture and Haruka left her associates, coming to the now bending woman who was picking up pieces of her phone with a shaking hand, the other still firmly over her mouth. Haruka leaned down and helped Eiko up, concerned blues and water-filled ones meeting.

"What's wrong?" Haruka was already moving towards the nearest hallway out of sight of curious looks from the other guests of the function.

"…" A sob half-silenced by the hand was the answer.

Haruka stopped at a safe distance away from the large room, where she was sure no one could hear them. "Eiko, what happened?"

"M-m-m-ichi…" The sobs broke free as Eiko removed her hand and hid her face in Haruka's shoulder, shaking uncontrollably.

Haruka felt a cold vise wrap itself around her heart, her mind putting two and two together. It was a perfect night, Michiru was in one place, while Haruka was in another, which didn't happen often. Her heartbeat slowed as she took Eiko by the arms and shook her back out of hysteria.

"Eiko, what happened to Michiru?" Her voice was calm and low, she couldn't afford to make Eiko's state any worse than it already was.

"S-s-she's in a h-h-hospital."

Haruka breathed out in relief, at least her mermaid was still alive. She moved, grabbing Eiko's arm, and pulled her towards the exit. A ticket was thrown impatiently to the valet, who pulled up the Enzo and Haruka shoved the crying woman in, jumping behind the wheel a second later. She cut into traffic and pushed on the gas pedal, swerving between the cars and wishing she had one of Daiki's sirens.

"Which hospital?"

"St. Luke's," Eiko whispered, hugging her small evening clutch.

"Why there?" Haruka took a sharp turn, having expected to go to the Central Hospital before she had asked.

"I don't know."

Haruka pursed her lips and sped up again, hitting the breaks only as she spotted the walkway above the street and took a sharp left shortly thereafter, not caring that the bottom of her car brushed the cobblestones below. She pulled into the concrete enclosure and found a parking spot, using the drifting skills Ichiro would have envied. After jumping out of the car, Haruka helped Eiko out and both briskly made their way to the general information area, only to find out that the emergency unit was in the building next door. Haruka dragged Eiko there, swearing at the hospital's layout, the incompetency of medics to take Michiru somewhere Haruka was familiar with, and the world in general. As they finally made it to the fourth floor of the right building, Haruka inquired into where her girlfriend was and what condition she was in.

"Kaioh-san has been taken to the Intensive Care Unit, the doctor is with her now." The young woman in hospital attire explained politely.

"Which way is it?" Haruka's eyes were searching her surroundings as she asked the question.

"It's on this floor, down the hall, but the visiting hours are over for the day, you can come back at ten tomorrow morning." The nurse swallowed as the most menacing look she had ever seen was sent her way, cold gray eyes capturing her own. "Are you a family member?"

Haruka's mouth fell open at the incredulity of the situation. Her brain screamed that no, indeed she was not a family member, nor could she be according to the current law, but her entire being resented the notion that she could not see Michiru because of a stupid thing like that.

"I'm her mother." Eiko finally regained her composure, realizing that situation was about to get out of hand even more. "Haruka is coming with me, I believe I have that right."

The nurse sighed in relief and bowed slightly. "Certainly, Kaioh-san." She showed them the way to the room. Both blondes felt their hearts sink as they walked down the hallway. Eiko reached out and grabbed Haruka's hand, surprised to find the palm cold and clammy. She threw the racer a quick glance, but her face was unreadable, her obvious worry hidden deep inside. Eiko turned back to the white hallway and watched with dread as the nurse stopped in front of one of the doors. She thanked the woman as the door opened and she walked inside.

Eiko was glad that Haruka was right behind her because she would have fallen backwards without the support of the blonde. The sight that met her was worse than anything she could have imagined. Michiru seemed even smaller than her actual petite size as she lay in bed, surrounded by machines and wires. An oxygen mask was placed over her broken lips, stitches covered abrasions on her swollen and multicolored face. She was barely recognizable, her hair being the main indicator of who the woman in front of them was. Heart, blood pressure and oxygen monitors were connected to her chest and right arm, an IV inside her elbow. The other arm was placed on a raised plate connected to the bed, a large bandage wrapped around her hand adjacent to a device that held each of her four fingers in place, her thumb being the only unmarked piece of flesh. Blankets covered the rest of her body, only the dark brown color of the urine bag indicated the damage underneath.

Eiko held her shaking hand to her mouth, this time preventing herself from gagging, and faced the doctor who was by Michiru's side with what looked like a nurse and a medical student.

"How is my daughter?" Eiko finally forced, her pale blue eyes meeting the dark browns of the doctor.

"She took a brutal beating. Her jaw is broken and will require further surgery when she is more stable, she has internal bleeding that we are monitoring closely, hopefully it will subside without need for any surgical intervention. She has three broken ribs, multiple abrasions all over her body that have been stitched-up, and a deep wound on the back of her hand. Fortunately, the object that made the wound did not touch the nerves and veins in the hand, so it should heal over time without any further consequences. Her fingers were not as lucky. Her index finger has a crack, the other three are broken. We have aligned the bones and secured them in place; again, it is a matter of time before they heal. She is currently stable, but she has not regained consciousness since before she was delivered here."

"Will she regain the full use of her fingers?"

Both the doctor and Eiko turned to Haruka who was standing next to the bed, her face hidden by the bangs, her hand holding Michiru's healthy one. Her thumb was caressing each finger in turn, avoiding the scratched areas.

"The bones should heal fine, but I cannot tell you anything about the agility. Generally, once a bone is deformed, it is never the same, but Kaioh-san will most likely be able to use her hand as an average person would with the help of some rehabilitation exercises."

"She's not an average person!" Haruka almost shouted, momentarily losing her composure. "She is a violinist, she needs her hand fully functional. Otherwise it's like asking you to perform surgery without one."

"I understand," the doctor said gently, putting a hand on Haruka's shoulder. Her spine became rigid from the touch, but she didn't bother to release herself from it. "We will do everything we can to make her whole again."

Haruka didn't respond, she was in her own world, watching the small woman in bed and holding to her hand as though it was a lifeline through which Haruka could send her energy. Michiru's terrible state was not surprising, neither was the brutality. Haruka was immune to those things, what she wasn't immune to was the fact that it happened, and the despair Michiru would have to face when she realized that her hand was damaged. The medical staff left shortly after giving further information to their patient's mother. Eiko watched the steady numbers on the monitor and her unmoving daughter before she looked at the blonde who was frozen in place, like a statute, holding Michiru's hand and watching her face with an unreadable expression. Eiko pulled a chair from the side of the room and put it behind Haruka.

"Sit down, I'm going to go find Jun and let him know how she is." Eiko left, quietly closing the door behind herself.

Haruka stood for another long moment before lowering herself into the chair. She kissed the hand she was holding and put her forehead on top of it as her eyes closed, the images of her beautiful mermaid reduced to a pile of abused human flesh forever etched in her mind. Haruka didn't even realize as the warm salty liquid dripped down the small hand she was holding, falling to the sheets and the floor below. Michiru had done nothing to deserve this, nothing but love her… her, the person who had never been loved before and probably did not deserve to be, if this was the outcome. She raised her head at the slight twitching motion of the fingers under her forehead and her wet dark blue eyes met half-opened ocean blues.

Haruka got up and brought her face to Michiru's, kissing her forehead and then leaning against it, their eyes locked. Both knew Michiru couldn't talk, but no words were necessary, they both read everything they needed to know in those deep blue pools, bathing in the security of having each other. Michiru's eyelashes batted before her eyes closed, as she was pulled back under the covers of sleep. Haruka slowly pulled away, wiping her face dry, her own eyes no longer blue.

When a storm is about to break above the ocean, there are minutes of eerie peace, when the water gets darker, reflecting the black clouds, and the sky meets the sea, creating a line that separates the two, just before the storm breaks and the water and air meet together, becoming a dense, menacing gray. Haruka's eyes were the color of the line that separates the two elements in that eerie moment. Whether she deserved this woman or not, Haruka had her and she would be damned before she let anyone do this to her mermaid.

After a short walk Haruka found herself in the bathroom, washing her face with cold water and staring at her own reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were red and slightly puffy, a rare occurrence that Haruka witnessed herself. She let the water have its effect and calmed herself down to the usual collected exterior. She shut the water off and dried her face.

Eiko was already back in the room, sitting in the chair Haruka left when the racer got back. "Call me if you need anything or if her condition changes."

"Where are you going?" Eiko turned to face the blonde, disapproval clearly written in her face.

Haruka didn't answer, she just shifted her eyes to the fragile woman in bed and her features hardened.

"She needs you. She needs you here when she wakes up."

Haruka looked back at Eiko and shook her head. "She knows I won't be here."

Eiko watched in amazed silence as Haruka closed the door and left, mixed emotions running through her system, only to settle at confusion. Her pale blue eyes turned back to the machines before they settled on her sleeping daughter.

**x x x  
**

The cold night air met Haruka as she exited the building and made her way to the car. Her house was at least half an hour away, which was much too far for her liking. She opened the door and took out a set of keys that were always kept under the driver's seat. She could have taken a train from here, but the bottled up emotions made her restless, unable to sit or stay still. She needed a quick release, but she didn't have time for a leisurely drive. She looked sadly at her suit and dress shoes, stripped the jacket, threw it in the car, and shut the door. Running in dress shoes was as bad as she imagined it to be, but the wind in her face was worth it. Just three more blocks. She wasn't far enough to get blisters, so she might as well put all she had into it.

She stopped in front of a door, her breath hardly labored. Running seven blocks was nothing compared to her daily running routine, but it was a nice diversion. She unlocked the door and walked through the lobby, making her way to the elevator. The bell chimed on the seventeenth floor and the doors opened. The steps were muffled by the carpeted floor as Haruka made her way to the door at the end of the corridor. At the turn of a key the metal door opened freely, and an alarm box lit up, asking for attention. Haruka put in the code and disabled the alarm, closing the door behind herself and locking all three bolts.

Haruka's house was her home, she had built it to be a fortress where she felt safe and secure. However, having the experiences that she had, she didn't get attached to material things and always had a back exit. The apartment was one of those 'just in case' strategies. No one knew about its existence, no one but the blonde. It was a small studio apartment and nothing in it would identify it as belonging to Tenoh Haruka. A double bed sat on the side of the room, serving as both the bed and the couch. A square coffee table occupied the middle of the room, few cushions lay on the floor around it. A small flat screen TV hang on the wall opposite kitchen cabinetry that occupied the length of the wall to Haruka's right. Heavy, navy blue drapes were the only accessory, other than the pillows. Three doors lined up on the wall to Haruka's left, opposite from the kitchen. Those three doors were the reason why Haruka bought this flat, as opposed to any other. The first door led to a bathroom, the other two had closets.

Haruka walked to the middle door and slid it open, exposing even rows of clothing of subdued colors, not one suit or dress shirt present in their midst. She grabbed a black turtleneck, midnight blue jeans and one of her racing jackets and threw the clothing on the bed. She stripped the suit off, followed by the bindings, and walked to a drawer inside the closet, where she pulled out a bra. Putting everything on, she looked at herself in the mirror to the side of the closet. The jeans hugged her hips and thighs and fell down the rest of her legs in a straight fashion; the turtleneck hugged her every curve, hidden by the more conspicuous racing jacket. Satisfied, she closed the door shut and opened the one to its right.

When Haruka first got this apartment, she needed it to keep things in case of emergency. Some things were more exposed than others, such as the medical supplies that filled the kitchen cupboards. Others were hidden a bit more. Once she slid the door open, another rack of clothing met her; only this one had evening dresses. Haruka had never worn a dress in her life, but she found the length very useful for her purposes. It covered the fake wall behind perfectly. Haruka parted the dresses and unlocked the enclosure, exposing a wall full of firearms, cutlery and electronics. Daiki thought that she exuded power in her most feminine form when she wore a leather outfit, Haruka could only imagine his face if he knew that her weapons were hidden behind evening gowns. She thought about it when she assembled the closet all those years ago. Giving the menacing weapons a longing look, Haruka grabbed a thin silver laptop and made her way to the table.

Haruka, the woman sitting on the floor of her apartment, was a loner; but Haruka, the racer, had a lot of so-called friends and connections. She rarely used those connections outside of the Wings of Night business, but she knew she always had the option to. Today was the day to call in some favors. She never once doubted who was responsible for Michiru's assault, nor did she need to think about what she wanted to do about it. What she needed to find out, however, was who did Yasu's dirty work because they deserved her revenge as much as the woman herself did. Haruka pulled the information she was looking for on the screen, picked up her phone and dialed the first number on her list.

**x x x  
**

Michiru opened her eyes fully in the evening of the next day. She saw the white ceiling first and then the memories slowly filled her vision, making her shut her eyes closed and mentally check her body. She was expecting to be in a vast amount of pain, but instead felt like her body was in a vacuum. Everything felt uncomfortable and out of place, but it did not hurt, not like she expected it to anyway. She tried to turn her head sideways, but a bandage across the side of her face prevented her from doing so and she groaned in annoyance, except that her groan came out as a low cry to those in the room. She heard a shuffling noise and her mother's concerned face appeared in front of her.

"Michi… You're awake." Eiko stroked her head gently.

Michiru made an attempt to answer, but the pain finally shot through her system as she tried to move her mouth. Her oxygen mask was gone, replaced by a tube in her nose.

"Shh… they operated on your jaw, it was broken. You have to give it time before you can talk again." Eiko's eyes watered as did her daughter's. "Do you want to come up?"

Michiru blinked, unable to do anything more than that. Eiko nodded and pressed the button on the side of the bed, bringing Michiru to a semi-sitting position. Michiru's eyes traveled the length of her body and the tears fell freely as she saw her left hand. Eiko grabbed a tissue and gently wiped the wetness away before it stained the bandages on Michiru's face. The mother watched as her daughter's eyes roamed the room, finding only Hideo in a chair opposite the bed. He smiled at her encouragingly, but she did not react, her ocean blue eyes coming up to the pale blues. Eiko swore internally and shook her head. "She's not here."

Michiru knew Haruka wasn't there, the conscious moment she shared with the blonde was vivid in her memory. She was just hoping that Haruka would come back, unharmed and soon. She needed the woman she loved by her side, wanted to feel her protection, even though she knew that that was exactly what Haruka was doing right now: protecting her.

**x x x  
**

Haruka was just finishing her conversation with the security guard of a building across from the alley where Michiru was assaulted when her phone buzzed. Having changed the ringtone the night before, she knew exactly who was calling her, so she excused herself and answered the phone.

"Tenoh."

"_She's awake," Eiko replied._

"How is she?" Haruka was looking at the empty alley as she quizzed the woman on the other end of the line.

"_They fixed her jaw this morning once they figured that she was stable enough. She can't talk and can't move yet… She also needs to see you."_

"She let you know that without talking?" Haruka jabbed.

"_I don't need her to tell me to know. You should know that as well."_

"I do." Haruka sighed, looking at her watch. "I'll stop by shortly."

"_Alright."_

She hung up and turned back to the guard who was already taking a flash drive out of the computer. It took her a while to figure out a way to place the faces on her girlfriend's attackers and a bit more to find someone who would help her without getting the cops involved. From her calculations, the camera at the front door of this building would have the best view of the alley, given that the angle was right. Her connections helped her in obtaining the video that was now on the small device and she was eager to find out what it contained. She thanked the security guard, passing him a rolled stack of bills as he handed her the flash drive. Haruka walked out of the building and hopped on her bike, making a detour on her way to the apartment.

Haruka walked the now familiar hallways, a visitor's tag proudly displayed on the side of her jacket. She was happy that she made it there before eight, the last thing she needed was another confrontation with the hospital staff about her right to see her girlfriend. She pulled the door open and her eyes settled directly on the ocean blues that grew wider than usual in surprise, Haruka was sure Michiru would be smiling if she could. The blonde made it to the side of the bed in a few strides and was happy to see the oxygen mask gone. She leaned down and placed a loving kiss on the unbandaged side of Michiru's mouth.

Michiru looked into the deep blue eyes of her girlfriend, enjoying the light touch of her lips, and grabbed the hold of her elbow with her healthy hand. Haruka stroked the sea-green hair with one hand, bringing the violinist's hand to her lips with the other. "Hi, mermaid."

"Hi," Michiru breathed out, ignoring the pain.

Haruka shook her head. "Don't… not yet." She kissed the healthy hand again, their fingers lacing together.

A sound of a chair being pushed back interrupted their moment and Haruka turned her head towards the noise. Hideo stood by the side of the room with a shocked expression. Haruka cocked an eyebrow at him in question.

"You're a woman?"

_'Shit.' _Haruka didn't need to look down at herself to know how the man was able to finally figure it out. "I don't remember ever indicating otherwise."

Hideo's mouth opened and closed a few times before he was able to put another sentence together. "You're a lesbian?" he sneered at Michiru.

Haruka's eyes narrowed as she straightened, ready to pummel the man into a wall for agitating her still recovering girlfriend. Michiru's hand tightened in her own, effectively keeping Haruka in place in response. "You have a problem with that?"

Eiko put a hand on her husband's arm, unsure how he would react, but not wanting a physical confrontation anywhere near this room.

"I do. You disgust me." He looked from one woman to the other.

"The door is over there, no one is holding you here," Haruka answered, her hand still firmly held.

"Who do you think you are to talk to me like that? This is my daughter, and she's not a lesbian!" he seethed through his teeth.

"She's not your daughter and who she's with is none of your god damn business. Just because you married her mother, doesn't mean you know Michiru or have any right to be a fatherly figure to her. So spare her, she's had enough, and leave."

Hideo brushed his wife's hand off of his sleeve and walked up to Haruka, ignoring the woman in bed altogether. "We will continue this conversation before either of you dares to show your face in public." He turned on his heel and left the room.

"No, we won't," Haruka whispered to his back, her attention back on the violinist. "I have to go and I don't know when I'll be back." She saw the tears well in the ocean blue eyes again and her heart hurt, but there was no other way. "But I will be back, I promise you."

Michiru squeezed her hand in response for the lack of ability to speak. Haruka leaned in and gently kissed the tears away before she straightened out and left the room, throwing a curt nod to Eiko.

**x x x  
**

Fingers were tapping impatiently on the aluminum case of the laptop as it was loading the software. Haruka's fingers stilled as the video started playing. It was a six-hour long chunk of surveillance that started at six in the evening, an hour after Haruka dropped Michiru off at the studio. She watched it in fast motion, quite sure that she would see Michiru even at that rate. The angle of the camera was set for the entrance to the building, but the entrance to the alley was clearly visible on the other side of the street in the upper corner of the screen. People and cars passed as the video progressed, until a black limo caught Haruka's attention and she paused the video. It was parked on the same side of the street as the alley, just before the entrance. Haruka looked at the time stamp on the bottom of the screen, it was seven o'clock, the time she checked in for her meeting with the Wings.

After no one left the limo, Haruka put it in fast motion again, but slower than the last time. A little over an hour later someone got out of the limo on the side of the sidewalk and Haruka switched to slow motion, taking a screen shot as the man turned while walking down the street. She watched impatiently as he walked out of the frame. Shortly after the limo pulled a little forward, blocking the access to the alley and hiding it from Haruka's view. The driver and another passenger exited, and Haruka paused the video to get both of their profiles. As the footage resumed, she saw the man who exited the limo first carry a kicking Michiru. Haruka's hands balled into fists as she watched the woman she deeply cared for unsuccessfully fight her captor. She tried to hit him with her violin case and one of the other men ripped it out of her hand, throwing it towards the alley. The four figures disappeared in the alley behind the limo and Haruka could no longer see them. She watched the passing cars on the street, frustrated by the fact that all those people passed by without stopping the terrible things that were happening to her mermaid. But then again, that was the nature of the streets and Haruka, of all people, knew that nature well. She felt helpless, knowing how much pain was inflicted during the time she watched the footage, and being unable to help, to take Michiru out of her misery or prevent it in a first place. Her remorse withered away as another person stepped out of the limo, she didn't need to turn for Haruka to know who she was. The woman disappeared into the alley and Haruka wanted more than anything to see what it was exactly Yasu did to Michiru personally, even though she had a pretty good idea.

Just over five minutes later Yasu appeared in the frame again, followed by three men. Haruka could not see her face clearly in the grainy film and because of the darkness of the street, but she knew the exact look on the woman's face. She had seen it once before, the morning Ichiro walked out on their friendship. Haruka quit the video and looked through the frames she captured. They were far from perfect, but she was sure that they were good enough for the police database. She opened a window, connected to the police server and logged in, putting the three faces into the database one by one. Letting face recognition do its work, she set the computer on the table and leaned back on the bed, wondering how long she would have to wait to take an action.

Less than ten minutes later she had her first match, who happened to be Michiru's abductor. Looking through his file she was relieved to find out that he was Yasu's personal bodyguard. Since the moment she found out that Michiru had been hurt, Haruka was afraid that Ichiro was executing his sister's wishes, like he had in the past. She wasn't afraid of him per se, she was afraid that she was so wrong about him once that she didn't know him at all. Ichiro she thought she knew may have chosen his sister over his friend and did her bidding in life, it was, in the end, his responsibility as a brother. But Ichiro she thought she knew cared for her like she cared for him and would not harm the one person he knew was important to Haruka, especially not after he walked out on her. She was afraid that she was wrong about that and that Yasu convinced him to do a hit on Michiru, but then there would be no need for Yasu's personal bodyguard. Ichiro's methods were much more graceful, though undeniably lethal.

Haruka was looking through the other two results as all three profiles were printed on the small machine inside the closet. Her phone vibrated on the coffee table and she picked it up without checking who was calling.

"Tenoh."

"_Would your recent activity by any chance have anything to do with an investigation one of my departments is handling in the matter of an assault against Kaioh Michiru?"_

Haruka rubbed her eyes with her thumb and index finger and sighed. "How do you know?"

"_Come on, kid, I'm not an idiot. I mean I can be pretty thick headed sometimes, but not when it's this blatant. You're calling people, you're using the database… I have your access flagged, I always know when you log in."_

That answered the question she was about to voice, at least in her own mind. "Then you know that it does, what do you want?"

"_See, if you called me first, I would've helped you. For example, one of the men in your search was arrested today in an unrelated matter."_

Haruka's fist hit the coffee table as she moved the phone away from her face and breathed in deeply. The last thing she wanted was for either of the abusers to be apprehended.

"I don't need your help."

"_Haru, I'm not asking you to trust me, I'm offering my help."_

"Why Daiki? So that you get your money back faster?"

"_It's not about my money."_

"Shit, be a bit more honest, at least with yourself."

"_Fuck, kid, I care! That girl is the best thing that ever happened to you and you're gonna lose your head avenging what happened. I want to help!"_

"I'm not gonna lose my head."

"_Really? What are you intending to do? Take those guys out to dinner?"_

Haruka stared at the monitor unseeingly.

"_It's not you. You've always valued human life, you've never taken it before."_

"People change."

"_No, they don't."_

"Then that's the way I've always been."

"_Haru… don't go down to her level. Let us take care of them."_

"NO! Stay out of my way, Daiki. Yasu needs to be put in place and your taking care of her goons will do nothing, it has no meaning to her."

"_You will regret this, it will change you and it will change Michiru. Do you want to put yourself in the position of being unable to look the woman you love in the eyes?"_

"She knows who I am! She knows what I'm gonna do!" Haruka breathed in and out, her temper contained behind a razor thin barrier. "And I never said I love her."

"_Your actions speak for themselves."_

Haruka's eyes widened as she heard his soft-spoken words. Her hand balled into a fist again as she shook her head. "There was a time I'd do the same for you… and I've never loved you."

Only the periodic static on the line broke the silence that ensued for the next few minutes. _"You felt that you owed me, that's why you would've done it for me. You owe me nothing anymore and you're angry at me, so you're thinking with a clear head. But Michiru… she makes you lose your head, she's done that since day one, that's why you took her in. I understand how you feel, you may not think that I do, but I do. I just want to make sure that you understand the consequences to your own actions and that you have thought them through."_

"I have thought them through. While I was standing in the ICU, looking at the beautiful woman that I held in my arms hours before reduced to a pile of abused flesh… The only familiar thing about her was her eyes… the color was hers, but the look in them… the look in them was mine. It was like looking in the reflection of my own soul, Daiki. I never wanted her to know what suffering was and I failed to protect her against it, the least I can do is see that it doesn't happen again."

"_You think that she would prefer something happening to you?"_

Haruka closed her eyes shut, Daiki hit the spot. "I'll get insurance before I visit with Yasu."

"_How much is the premium going to be? I made a mistake of making a deal with Ichiro once when I was pissed about Oono, you're about to do the same. Don't play with fire."_

"Unlike you, I have a card up my sleeve when it comes to Wadas and we have history, so don't worry about me." She stood up and walked to get the files she printed earlier, ready to end the conversation. "If you really want to help me, let the guy who was caught go."

"_I can't do that, he's been transferred to holding."_

"Then take care of him." She stared at the picture of the man in her hand, listening to the static again.

"_Okay… Kid?"_

"Hmm?"

"_Be careful."_

Haruka smiled at the saddened tone in his voice. "If I didn't know you better, I'd say that you've turned soft."

"_Fuck you."_

"Ah, that's more like it." She hang up the phone, not letting him respond or make her actually feel worried about her next action.

Haruka grabbed the files she had, changed and left the apartment. She needed to do some further research. She needed to know Yasu's schedule, how often her bodyguard and driver accompanied her, and where Haruka could intercept them in the future. There were some things the blonde already knew about her brunette ex, she just wanted to make sure that some things never did change. Like predictable habits.

**x x x  
**

Haruka contemplated skipping the race on Friday, but that would have caused questions and she could use the opportunity to assess the situation. It took her all of her self-control not to strangle Yasu when she saw her exit the car, but Haruka held herself in check. The two siblings walked towards the other racers as usual, joining their midst in preparation for the highway race.

"Evening, baby girl, where's your sidekick? Did she tire you out already?"

Haruka's spine turned into a steel rod as she turned slowly, facing her nemesis. "Why would she ever tire me, Yasu? No one has ever fucked my brains out the way she does." She smiled at the surprised expression on Yasu's face that turned into an angry one. Somehow it felt almost as good as slapping the woman, perhaps because it actually had an effect on her.

"I don't think she'll be doing that any time soon," Yasu mumbled under her breath and realized her slip only when Haruka's eyes got colder, there was no other indication that the blonde heard her.

"Enjoy the race, Yasu." Haruka turned to the rest of the racers to debrief them. _'It will be your last.'_


	26. Past the Present

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 26**

**Past (the) Present**

As the cars flew at dangerous speeds on the empty highway, Haruka found herself not enjoying driving for the first time ever. Too many things weighed on her mind and even the wind could not help her, only she herself could. Her patience was wearing thin, especially after she saw Yasu take pleasure in the knowledge that Michiru was at the hospital, not that Haruka expected otherwise. However, she wasn't stupid. She knew that Daiki was right; she couldn't risk dying and leaving Michiru alone, not knowing that Michiru loved her.

She came fourth for the first time in a long time, but she didn't care. Haruka got out to make sure that Hiro was okay packing up by himself. She avoided the other racers, especially Yasu, but inadvertently brushed shoulders with Ichiro on her way to the car. Their eyes connected for a short moment that seemed like a century before Haruka walked by, not a word passed between the two. Haruka got in her car and Ichiro walked up to his sister.

**x x x  
**

Daiki watched Haruka walk to her car while pretending to pay attention to what his buddies were telling him. Two days had passed since their conversation and Haruka didn't make a move, but he was sure that she already had a plan. Daiki's worry was naturally two-fold. He was worried for her life because he genuinely liked her and she was family, and she was the only one with access to his money. He may not have offered to help her purely out of philanthropy, he didn't want her to die on him and take the location of his estate to her grave. He stifled a sigh as he noticed Yasu watching Haruka's departure as well, the woman's expression was as unreadable as always. For a moment he entertained a thought of just putting a bullet through her brain, but then he noticed Ichiro watching him with a knowing look. Daiki shrugged and turned back to his company, figuring that he didn't have that many options and would have to just wait and see.

**x x x  
**

"You know, I haven't been here in three years."

The night was warm and overcast. The ground was still dry, clouds passed over the moon, bringing the hill into darkness before allowing light to pass through again. The lights of Tokyo were far below the hill, a narrow road and more slopes behind Haruka's back. Her car was parked at the observation deck a few meters above, while she sat on the ground, invisible from the road. She listened to his approaching footsteps, muffled by the grass. He walked down and sat next to her, close but not touching, side by side. They both looked at the lights in comfortable silence.

"You've always loved those lights. Can you see them from your house?" He looked at her sideways and saw her nod. "I thought so."

"How did you know I'd be here?" Her voice was hardly above a whisper.

"This is where you always come when you need to clear your mind. The wind is always in your face here." Ichiro turned back to the city.

"You look out of place here in your business suit." They both knew it was a deflection because he always wore the suits these days. "You haven't come here in three years," she said accusingly.

"I'm sorry. I needed time to clear my mind too."

"Three fucking years?"

"You made me leave! You made me chose between you and my sister. What did you expect, Haru?" He turned to face her fully.

"Honestly? I expected you to see through her, know that she was manipulating you and put her in place, be the man I thought you were."

"She's my sister, Haru, she's family. It's just me and her, we're the only two left."

"She's the reason why there are only two of you left." Haruka lowered her voice down.

"What did you say?" His eyes shone dangerously as he stared into her gray ones.

"She's the reason why there are -"

"I heard you the first time!" He grabbed the collar of her shirt, kneeling in front of her as she just sat there, not trying to defend herself. "Don't you dare bring that scum up!"

"Ichi, he didn't rape her." Her voice was even, despite the choking hold on her shirt. Her expression - almost regretful.

"Don't fuck with me!" He pushed her down on the ground, releasing her shirt and jumping to his feet.

"I'm not, she's the one who fucked with you and you believed her! You killed your own father because she manipulated you!" Haruka's voice rose to reach the enraged man.

"He raped her! That animal raped my sister! He made her pregnant! That's why I killed him!" He was kneeling again, his fist inches away from her face.

"She was already pregnant Ichiro! She found out a week before she made the shit up! She was unfortunate enough to have the stick in her hand when I walked into the bathroom and had no way of lying out of it. I told her that I wanted nothing to do with her again because she cried her love for me while fucking around, so she decided to pay me back by taking you away from me! She made the story up, knowing that you wouldn't listen to the voice of reason and do her bidding! She eliminated your father and me in one blow. I mean, it was brilliant, I'll give her that, but I thought you would actually see through it! I begged you to stop, remember that? Begged you to put the gun down when you held it in his face and you didn't listen; you said that no matter what I said it wouldn't change your mind because your sister would always be the one person you won't turn on! That's why I cut you out!"

She was now screaming, even though he would have heard her whisper, his face was close enough. His fist fell slowly to the ground, his face white as a sheet, a bright contrast in the darkness of the night.

**x x x**

Wada Ichiro was born as a first and only son of an old yakuza clan. The traditions of the clan had been established through generations and he was exposed to the ways of that life from day one. Neither of his parents ever pretended to be someone they were not, so he saw their brutal nature as soon as he could comprehend what it meant. Living in the mansion, he rarely came in contact with his father who was at the top of the clan, always too busy to get acquainted with his only son or spend time with his wife. Ichiro's mother was a cold and composed woman around her husband, but the boy found her to be very different early on. Ichiro realized who his mother really was at the age of four, when he walked into his older sister's bedroom and found her curled up in a ball on her bed, a blood-streaked sheet wrapped loosely around her slim trembling body. He felt his knees go weak and his feet go numb, but eventually he made it to her bed and stroked her hair as she cried, wondering what else he could do to relieve the pain. He crawled on the bed and held her head in his small lap, until Yasu stopped crying and smiled at him. When she got up and dropped the sheet, he saw long cuts and burns all over her body, the evidence of the belt whipping she just got from their mother. Her tattoos covered the marks later on, but they forever stayed in his memory. That day he promised to protect his sister as much as he could, even if it was from their parents.

As they grew older, Ichiro wasn't sure if Yasu was the way she was because of all the abuse she had endured in the first nine years of her life, before that day when he found her crying in bed, or if she was simply like their mother. He figured that it was a combination of both that eventually turned Yasu into a psychopath. When he was twelve, he came back from school to find men in suits filling the entire house. His father was sitting in the living room, Yasu on the floor next to him, her face buried in her hands. His father told him that his mother had fallen down the stairs, but he knew, he knew she hadn't the moment Yasu raised her head and their eyes connected. The tears were falling down her face, but the only thing he saw in those black eyes was satisfaction.

After his mother's death, Ichiro was gradually involved more and more in the business side of things, as though his childhood was stripped down the minute his father realized that he was the next in line, which coincided with his mother's death. Their father shipped Yasu off to college, most likely to get her out of the way. Ichiro had seen her only on holidays for four years, but they had never lost contact. Despite everything that happened or because of everything that happened he felt the need to protect her, he felt that she had suffered enough. He had always seen her craziness as a side effect or an illness, not an actual characteristic of who she was. He was seventeen when she came back and she was twenty-two. They both changed in those four years, Ichiro much more so than Yasu. He evolved in accordance with the family traditions, learned the ways of the family. He was no longer bothered by the darkness of the world, having embraced it rather than trying to fight it from within, and found that he understood her much more.

Yasu introduced him to racing, having lived in Germany for four years and being used to the freedom of driving as fast as she could. Both knew that it wasn't so in Japan, which was when Ichiro came across the Wing of Night. For Ichiro's eighteenth birthday, their father gave him a red Enzo Ferrari, signifying his worthiness as a man. Soon after and not without manipulation from Yasu's side, she received a matching black car. It took them a few months before they finally were able to get in the club, but they did. During their first few months there Ichiro, whose confidence and arrogance had been bred in him for years, bet that no woman would ever beat him in a race. He said it in a company of fellow racers after Yasu kept coming far from winning for weeks. One of his best competitors took his joke to an actual bet and said that he knew a woman who could beat him, provided that he put his car on the table. Ichiro studied the blonde racer for a long while before smiling wide and agreeing to the bet. The blonde smiled in response and waived her head at the cars, which was when Ichiro, to his own embarrassment, learned that Tenoh Haruka was a woman. Losing the bet did not piss him off as much as not knowing that Haruka was a woman did. He was true to his word and gave her the car, but the encounter became more than just that incident for all three of them.

Over the period of next year Ichiro and Haruka found that they had a lot in common. Mostly those were outlooks on life and the intimate knowledge of the ugliness of the world, but they were also surprised to find that they understood each other. They started meeting outside of the races, initially simply sitting on a hill and talking for hours. Later, they met in public, running errands and learning ways of business, so to speak, together. Ichiro used the knowledge for the benefit of his family, Haruka - for the benefit of Wings of Night. The betting system was implemented around that time, many aspects of the internet version were set up with Ichiro's help. After a year and a half of his service to the Wings, Haruka proposed to make him part of the gang and he was accepted by an unanimous vote.

As the two of them grew closer, Yasu started feeling like she was losing connection with her beloved brother. Even though she was there at the races, she never took part in their socializing or their time together, which she intended to change. Once she set her mind on it, even Ichiro could not resist inviting her to some of his and Haruka's outings. Soon Yasu found herself in bed with Haruka and realized that the racer was something she wanted to keep. Ichiro watched their non-relationship indifferently, knowing that Haruka was not one to settle down, especially not with someone like his sister, and Yasu was simply not one to love someone to want to be with them for long. There was no monogamy in their relationship, it was a casual friends with benefits arrangement. Four months into that ordeal something changed and Ichiro started to pay attention more. Haruka's treatment of Yasu did not change, but Yasu's did. All of a sudden she became more like the girl he saw sitting on the living room floor the day their mother died and not the woman who came back from college. She became needy, which in turn resulted in her being controlling, making sure that Haruka was hers and not someone else's. Ichiro and Haruka had long conversations on the subject on the side of the hill, wondering how the hell they could get out of that trap. In the end, Haruka tried to give Yasu a chance and try an exclusive relationship. Two months into that experiment all hell broke loose.

Yasu came to him crying hysterically, unwilling to tell what was going on. Ichiro suspected that it had to do with Haruka, but he didn't know the extent of it. After a long night of convincing her to talk, Yasu finally told him that Haruka broke up with her, meaning both the exclusive relationship and occasional sex, because Yasu was pregnant. Shaking uncontrollably in his arms she told him that their father had been abusing her since she came back from college and that the child she was pregnant with was a result of one of the rapes. Ichiro was looking down at her, laying in his lap, and the only thing he could remember was the same position all these years ago when he found her covered in blood. His rage took over any other instinct and logic and he went on a prowl to find his father. In the early hours of the morning he found him in the living room, sipping on a cup of tea with none other than Haruka. Ichiro didn't even bother to ask what his friend was doing there as he flew into the room, his gun pointed in his father's shocked face. Yasu was standing by the door, tears still streaming down her face as he heard Haruka yell for him to stop whatever he was doing, to trust her that he was making a huge mistake. He could not. The image of his sister blinded him and he never gave his father a chance to defend himself, nor did he let his friend's words reach his consciousness. He yelled to her that no matter what she said, he would never take her word over his sister's, right before he pulled the trigger. As the crimson speckles, bone fragments and brain matter settled around the living room, he was met with the sickening satisfied black eyes and unreadable cold gray ones. He watched Haruka walk out of the room without another glance. Poetically, both of his parents died in the same room at the hand of their children.

After that incident, Haruka literally cut him out of her life. It was like he wasn't there, not that he tried to dissuade her. He was mad at her for discarding his sister at first, and then understood perfectly how she felt: untrustworthy and betrayed. He would have felt the same in her position. However, he needed time to sort things out. Yasu for some odd reason thought that what happened was enough to get her Haruka back, which was insane, but, then again, so was his sister. After another month of harassment, including an incident where angered Yasu almost caused an accident, Haruka cut off his wings and forced Yasu out of the club. Ichiro never wanted to leave, but he understood that it was the only way to find himself without having to worry about his sister's next insane act. They both left and he had not seen Haruka until after Daiki called him. Yasu went back to Europe for a year at Ichiro's insistence, he needed time to put the clan back together after his traitorous act. She came back, alone, and even nastier than before. His inquiry into her child was dismissed with a silent shake of her head and he never brought up the subject again. They both were busy with the matters of the clan for the next two years, Ichiro more so than Yasu.

When Daiki called in for a favor, Ichiro literally only thought about not having anyone to talk to. He didn't trust anyone, not even his sister. He was a loner, just like Haruka, that was what attracted him to her in the first place. However, even the strongest sometimes need someone to lean on. He thought that three years of running away on his side and three years of wounded pride on her side were enough to put it all behind them. He was wrong. Worse, he was hoping that Yasu got Haruka out of her mind, but knew that was not the case the minute he mentioned to her that they were back in the club. Yasu came back from China a month earlier than expected. In the end, Ichiro was still left with the same confusion and more worries about his out of hand sister.

**x x x  
**

He was looking at her unseeingly, the scene from three years ago replaying in his mind. Logically, it made perfect sense. Yasu knew his soft spot for her, knew the exact position she should be in to deliver the blow. Their father knew she was unstable to be involved in business too much and he tried to limit her, she knew that too. By killing their father, Ichiro got rid of her obstacle within the family and broke his relationship with Haruka. Yasu got both freedom of acting on business matters and his devotion back, she no longer needed to share him. His own blindness infuriated him. He raised his fist and brought it down with all his might, digging it into the ground by Haruka's head. She did not even flinch, just stared at his flaring nostrils.

After he kept just sitting there, his fist in the ground, his face a contortion of pain, Haruka sat up and pulled a handkerchief out of her jean pocket, handing it to him. "You might want it checked out, in case it's broken. I know an emergency room I can recommend." Her tone was sarcastic.

He finally came out of his trance and brushed the dirt off of his bleeding hand, accepting the offered material. "I had nothing to do with it."

"I know." She sat back in her original position, looking over the city.

"What do you want from me?" He sat next to her, nursing his aching hand.

"Immunity."

He sighed after a long moment of silence, closing his eyes shut. "On one condition."

She turned to him, raising an eyebrow in question.

"You stay here and talk to me like we used to." He turned his head to face her, not bothering to hide the emotions that were running deep.

She cocked her head sideways and studied him, assessing the man he had become in the past three years. "I can do that."

They both turned back, watching the lights and listening to the sounds of the night, until Ichiro was ready to take the weight off of his chest, ready to finally put some of his burdens at peace. Haruka happened to be the only person who could both accept him for who he was and not be afraid to tell her disapproval directly to his face. She was both the priest and the prosecutor that absolved him of some sins and berated him for others. Exactly what he needed to exist in the world in a twisted version of peace with himself.

**x x x  
**

The sunrise warmed up the sky, bringing light and warmth to the world. Neither warmth nor light reached Haruka's heart as she pulled out of the observation deck, followed by the red Ferrari. Trees and mountain hills flashed past the car, but images from the past overlaid the scenery in her vision.

"_Are you gay?"_

"_What the fuck?"_

"_I've never seen you with a woman."_

"_Why would you see me with one?"_

"_Don't you date?"_

"_Do you?"_

"_No, but you've seen me with women."_

"_Not everyone is bold enough to fuck in public."_

"_Didn't take you for a shy type."_

_He slammed his sake down, spilling some of the contents on the wooden surface of the bar. "It's not that. I avoid women… I fuck them, but other than that… they're either weak clingy creatures or cunning ones. I have no interest in keeping them around for longer than necessary, Yasu's enough."_

_Her glass of sake lingered in the air as she gaped at him before emptying the contents down and crashing the clay glass into the wood. "What the fuck? I'm a woman!"_

_He burst out laughing, unable to stop himself, even as rage filled her features. "You're as much of a man as I am."_

_His eyes widened as Haruka got off the chair and leaped to him, her hand tightening around his crotch. "Your dick seems to think I'm a woman."_

_He didn't bother to remove her hand, but the mirth was gone. "I'm an intoxicated man, of course I'll get a reaction to you. You're special, Haruka, but to me you're neither a woman nor a man. You're you. Your gender doesn't matter. Just because I feel a connection to you, doesn't mean I want to fuck you."_

A smile played on her lips at the memory. From that night on she made it a point to show off her curves every time she was with him, outside of racing. She had never worn a dress or a skirt in her life, but her pants became tighter, her tops form-fitting… she no longer could be mistaken for a man, far from it. She wanted him to remember that she was in fact a woman. However, as her clothes became softer, her temper flared, her attitude became nastier than ever.

"_Hey babe, wanna drink?"_

_They were standing by yet another bar as a drunken customer approached and put his hand on her ass. She didn't even bother looking at him as she grabbed his wrist and twisted it, crushing it into the bar with a sickening noise of cracking bones. _

"_Imagine what would happen if you wore a dress?" Ichiro smirked at her, looking at the man who was nursing his broken arm, anger and pain mixed in his face. He already noticed a group of people heading their way, but continued the conversation they were having._

_Haruka kept looking at him indifferently. "You'd have to protect my fucking honor every time we went out?"_

"_Like now I don't?" He pulled his sleeves upwards, preparing for the first punch that was thrown her way. _

_Some people were smart enough to walk away once Ichiro showed off his tattooed arms, others were just too drunk or too arrogant to do so. He caught the punch that was meant for Haruka's head as the blonde finished her drink, unmoving. The man went flying to the floor as Ichiro's left jab connected with his jaw. _

"_Like I've ever asked you to." Haruka grabbed the stool that was standing next to her and squatted, breaking the stool on the legs of a man that was running in their direction with an empty bottle raised for a hit. The broken wooden leg still in her hand, she rose back up to her full height and stood next to Ichiro, both hoping that there were more customers coming their way. _

When they went out, they used to trust each other, be able to sense the other's next move, the other's thoughts. They lost that the morning Ichiro made an irrational choice. Now that he knew the full extent of his mistake and she didn't want to worry about him going after her, she was ready to give it another, more cautious try. She listened to him through the night, letting him unburden three years of his life on her, unknowingly bringing her in a better state of mind for what she was about to do. She had been avoiding seeing Michiru since the violinist regained consciousness because that woman brought humanity in Haruka out. She made her feel warm and fuzzy, neither of which were appropriate if Haruka wanted to succeed with her plan. Her plan required cold calculation and absence of feeling. Haruka wasn't a murderer, had never been one. She could still remember all the nightmares she had after the accident she caused earlier in the year, they were vivid in her memory. This, however, was different. She may have never killed anyone purposefully, but she has done many things she wasn't particularly proud of. Most of them happened in self-defense or to protect her own interests, but they had never been limited by consideration for others.

Haruka who was with Michiru would not have stood watching a man lose his brain and then just walk out of the room, not even a gagging reflex bothering her. Haruka who was with Yasu did so, in cold blood, the mistake her friend made bothered her a lot more than his actions. Haruka and Ichiro shared a past in their outings, one that even Daiki was not familiar with. Their arrogance did not know limits and their upbringing, or absence thereof, made them feel like they were invincible. No one could stand in their way, especially not when they hit the streets. There was a reason why Haruka didn't drink much, and it had nothing to do with getting a release from driving or becoming unable to hide her emotions, as Daiki mistakenly thought. It had a lot more to do with her losing control of her conscience, and not caring about consequences of her actions. She allowed herself to be that way in Ichiro's presence because she knew she could lean on him if need be, but not since his betrayal. Three years ago Haruka set a limit to alcohol, violence, and relationships in her life. Today she was going to set those limits aside.

Listening to Ichiro talk, she almost felt that what she was about to do was a child's play. It wasn't nearly intricate or disturbing enough to get to Ichiro's adult level. It didn't make Haruka change her plans, it just made her feel better, feel like she wasn't as bad of a person as she thought she was, gave her hope that it wouldn't change her much, unlike what Daiki predicted. In the end, she was doing it for the right reasons, no matter what someone else thought or said.

Haruka had a whole day to kill before her plan would be put in motion, and the best thing she could do was sleep on it. She drove to her apartment, but not before stopping by a kiosk and getting the morning newspaper. It lay on the passenger seat of her car, one of the articles on the front page read:

"_Argument Turns Into Bludgeoning at the Holding Center."_

The name of the victim wasn't released, but Haruka knew who it was. Daiki rarely broke his word once he gave it. She took the paper to the apartment and placed it on the coffee table, next to the files of the three men, right before she fell on the bed, face down, shutting the world out of her system and getting the energy she needed for the night ahead.

**x x x  
**

"Where have you been?"

Ichiro turned to the woman who was sipping on her morning cup of tea in the comfort of the living room. The memories that flashed through his mind didn't reflect in his face or posture in the least, the irony of the situation not lost on him.

"Since when do I report to you?"

"I was just curious." Yasu gave him her best concerned look.

"Curiosity is what killed the little cat."

"What?" Yasu stared at him, wondering if he was high.

"Nothing. Are you going to the bathhouse tonight?" His unreadable eyes pierced through hers.

"It's a Saturday, of course I am." She flipped her hair with an air or irritation.

"Some things never change."

"I like to cleanse myself once a weak, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing can cleanse you." He walked away before she could react, noting her distorted features from the corner of his eye. He could have warned her, in a way he did. He brought it up, if she thought about it, it would have come as odd. Whether it did something to stop her from going or not, he no longer cared. Ichiro walked into the study, shutting the door behind him, and sat behind his desk, resting his head in the palms of his hands.

He didn't ask what Haruka intended to do, he assumed he knew. The newspaper that lay on his desk caught his attention and a side of his mouth curled up at one of the headlines. His girl was back. He missed her, he truly did. Perhaps they would never have what they had once, he no longer had the freedom to mindlessly barrage the streets, and she found someone she cared for, but he was glad he could at least talk to her again.

**x x x  
**

Her eyes opened slowly, still dazed from the sleep. As the ceiling came into focus, determination wiped away all remainder of her slumber and Haruka threw the sheets off, heading straight for the shower. Twenty minutes later she was standing in front of the closet, surveying her small artillery. Yasu was a knife freak… actually she was good with anything that had a sharp edge, so Haruka steered away from any of her own shiny metal friends. This was also the reason why she decided to catch Yasu off guard where she was heading to next. It made carrying a weapon tricky, but also assured that Yasu was unarmed. Haruka grabbed her Beretta Tomcat, the silencer, and two magazines, just in case. She returned the closet to its innocent state and put the gun behind the waistband. She had holsters, but they weren't necessary with only one weapon. Haruka gave another look to the pictures on her table before putting them in the trash compactor. She slipped into her racing jacket and put on her helmet. Her bike was patiently waiting for her in the underground garage, in its assigned parking spot.

The wind hugging her body did nothing to relax it, but gave her confidence. She wasn't nervous, she was calm and determined. She was just hoping that fate wouldn't play any games with her and that everything would go according to plan. The black limo wasn't on the street, so Haruka parked and walked into the nearest garage. Some spots were occupied by a variety of vehicles, but most were empty. The limo was on the ground level, facing the building inconspicuously identified as a bathhouse. Haruka approached it from the back and knocked on the driver's window, startling the two men who were having a conversation. Their absence of attention surprised her, but played well into her plans. The driver lowered the window down with an annoyed and menacing look on his face, meaning to wish her away. As soon as the bullet-proof glass was half-way down, two quiet shots broke the silence, and a satisfied expression illuminated Haruka's face. A smile played at the corner of her mouth. Too easy.

Her smile disappeared as the door behind her opened, she didn't expect more than two people there, but apparently Yasu found a replacement for her second bodyguard. Haruka ducked, hiding behind the door as a burly man stepped out, his gun drawn out, and a bullet pierced the air where the blonde head was just a second ago. Haruka grabbed his calf and pushed on the door, tripping him to the ground. She used the moment during which the bodyguard was too caught up in surprise of landing on the pavement to jump from behind the door and deliver the fatal shot. This man had nothing to do with her vengeance, but he got in her way and she was defending herself, so his death was fully justified. She sighed, looking at the large body in front of her. Not having any other choice, she put the gun on top of the limo and pulled the man inside. The last thing she needed now was someone coming across a body in the parking lot. The presence of the red liquid on the ground was unfortunate, but she didn't have time or desire to deal with that. Haruka grabbed her gun, opened the driver's door, brought the tinted window back all the way up, and shut the door closed. She took a deep breath and headed to the building.

There were few reasons why Yasu liked this particular bathhouse and visited it every week. For one, not every bathhouse allowed people like her in. This one, on the other hand, charged enough not to care for customers lost; people who were unwilling to bathe with yakuza. Therefore, it was either frequented by people who didn't care, were curious or were yakuza. Yasu visited it late on Saturday nights, which assured that there were few people there, she liked her space. Another reason why Yasu liked this particular place was because it was not traditionally Japanese. Due to the nature of its clientele, it catered to different wishes. In addition to the traditional baths and massage rooms, Yasu liked to indulge in its saunas and other, more exotic services.

Haruka made her way to the locker room and removed her clothes. She replaced the magazine, unwilling to risk having only four bullets left. The small pistol fit in the palm of her hand, which was why she brought it in the first place. Once the silencer was on, carrying a gun around the onsen became a lot trickier, but then again, that was where those little towels were actually useful. Haruka wrapped the gun in the material and headed for the communal room. There were no other patrons in the room at this hour and the staff members disappeared after they realized that she knew what she was doing. Haruka washed herself quickly and headed for the bath. It was a large room with a rectangular hot bath in the middle. Most surfaces were covered with white tile, which was warmed up by the yellow lights. It wasn't too bright, nor was it dim, the illumination was meant to create a relaxing atmosphere for the patrons. There were no windows in the room, only mosaic replicas occupied three walls. The wall opposite to where Haruka came out of had a progression of doors, each leading to a small sauna.

Haruka walked inside the room and noticed that there were only two women soaking in the bath, Yasu wasn't one of them. She winked at the two, effectively making them avert their eyes. Haruka made her way across the room, hoping that Yasu still used the same sauna as before. She pulled the door to the corner unit open and was momentarily enveloped in a cloud of steam.

The illumination in the small room was even less evident than outside, but everything was still clearly visible as the vapor settled. As Haruka's eyes adjusted to the environment, they fell on a slender body on top of the tiled shelf. Yasu's head was turned to face her, and the black eyes studied the gray ones.

"Your body looks even better than it used to."

"Don't tell me you're getting horny even though you know what's coming," Haruka sneered. A hissing sound was followed by a cloud of steam from somewhere underneath the shelf.

"What is coming, Haru?"

Yasu didn't wait for an answer as she swung her body off of the shelf and kicked the gun still wrapped in a towel out of Haruka's hand. It fell on the moist floor and slid into a corner. Haruka didn't care to try and catch it as she deflected a kick that was aimed at her torso and grabbed the slender leg, tripping Yasu, who landed hard on her bottom. Within a second, the brunette was back on her feet, this time trying to hit Haruka on the back as the blonde reached out for the gun. Haruka's body contorted in pain as a foot connected with her stomach, but she ignored it and grabbed on to the cool handle, turning sideways to avoid another kick. She jumped back to her feet and grabbed on to Yasu's neck, pinning her to the tiled wall opposite the shelf.

"You've always been more agile, but I'm stronger than you are."

"Evidently." Both of her hands grabbed on to Haruka's arm as Yasu tried to pull it off of her neck, but the hold only tightened, suffocating her.

Haruka eased her grip as she pulled the gun to Yasu's eye level, making her stop resisting. The black eyes came back to the gray ones, only sickening mirth in the black depths.

"You think killing me will be enough?" Her voice was back to its normal sweetness.

"No, killing you will never be enough. That won't make you suffer."

Yasu laughed, until Haruka's hand jerked and made her cough. "Nothing will make me suffer anymore."

"Oh really?" Haruka removed the gun from Yasu's face and dragged it slowly to the woman's stomach in a caressing motion that made the brunette shiver. "Tell me, do stretch marks affect the tattoos? I've always wanted to know."

"What?" Her eyes widened slightly.

Haruka smiled wide. "I'm not your brother, bitch, you can't wrap me around your finger. Nothing will make you suffer? That's just shit. There are at least two things I can think of. Neither of them will be as bad as what you did to Michiru, but that's only because you can't feel the same way she does. You aren't human."

"Seeing you naked and being unable to have you makes me suffer." Yasu smiled and reached for Haruka's breast.

Haruka's grip tightened as she grabbed the neck and forced the back of Yasu's head into the tile. Yasu dropped her hand back to the side and stared at the racer in rage.

"If you ever so much as come near Michiru, your kid will die. You and I both know that you can't have any more and you are proud enough to want your line to keep on going. You kept it a secret from Ichiro, which makes me think that you want to get rid of him as soon as your son is old enough to be welcomed into the family. Anything happens to me and Ichiro will know of your plan, he'll kill the little bastard himself. Anything happens to Michiru, and I'll do the honors myself. Is that understood?"

Yasu just stared at Haruka, hate clearly written in both her face and her eyes. Haruka tightened her grip again and bashed the head into the wall for the second time, hoping that Yasu's brain would fall into place. "Did you get me?"

Yasu cried out from the pain, shutting her eyes at the nauseating feeling. "Yes."

"Look at me!" Haruka lowered her face to the same lever as Yasu's.

The black eyes opened and Haruka gave her a small smile. "I'm not fucking around, Yasu, the host family in Germany has been under my watchful eye for a while now. Even if you take him away, I'll find him. You know I can. You got me?"

She nodded, tears of anger spilling over her cheeks. Haruka eased her grip on the neck again, but tightened her fingers around the gun. "You took something away from Michiru, I'll take the only equivalent you have from you."

Haruka's mouth connected with Yasu's in a forceful kiss, muffling the painful scream as bullet after bullet went into Yasu's right foot, until Haruka emptied the magazine. She let go of the brunette and took a step back. Yasu slid to the floor, losing consciousness before her body ever reached the pool of blood that was rapidly forming. Haruka grabbed the small towel and wrapped it around her gun, leaving the small room that smelled of humidity, burned flesh and blood. She headed straight for the communal room and scrubbed the crimson speckles off of herself. Satisfied when there was nothing left on her raw skin, she walked back to the locker room and dried herself. It only took her a minute to slip back into her clothes and reload her gun. She grabbed her shoes on the way out and slipped into them as the first scream was heard deep inside the bathhouse. Haruka walked out of the front door and jumped on her bike, never once looking back. She drove as fast as she could without getting any attention, until she found herself on the observation deck, looking at the lights. She killed off the engine and got up, rushing to the side of the graveled area to empty the contents of her stomach. Her body shivered and her hand shook as she pulled the gun from behind her waistband and stared at it. The taste of revenge is never as sweet as one wishes it to be, especially not when it is soured by regret.


	27. Aftermath

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 27**

**Aftermath**

The slow and steady beeping of the monitors was the only sound that broke the silence of the dim room. Michiru has been looking at the ceiling and listening to that sound for the past three hours, ever since her mother left at eight. She was transferred to a single room on Friday, once her condition stabilized. Since her pain still, surprisingly, did not manifest itself to an appropriate degree, Michiru was left with just laying there and thinking. Thinking for an extended period of time was not something she wanted to do, it was driving her insane. What was there to think about? The possibility of her never playing the violin again? The danger Haruka was getting herself into? The fact that there was nothing Michiru was really looking forward to anymore?

'_Shut up!'_ She turned her head sharply to the side, glaring at the rhythmically beeping monitor. Naturally, the machine did not respond to her mental shout out. Michiru turned to her side, hoping that changing the position would help her fall asleep. It did not. To her further frustration, her hand started throbbing. She brought it up closer and stared at the bandages on her broken fingers. There were no more tears left in her system, she has cried them all out in the past nights, once her visitors have left. All she could do now was stare at them and groan in frustration.

"Are you in pain, Kaioh-san?"

She was startled by the nurse's concerned voice. She was definitely in pain, but not the physical kind. The physical pain was strangely absent.

"I can't sleep." Unwillingly, the words came out in an irritated tone. One she used with her servants when she behaved like a spoiled socialite, which has not happened in over a year. Michiru wondered were it came from.

The nurse walked up to the beeping machine and pushed a few buttons. "We readjusted your medicine earlier today. Perhaps it was premature. You should feel better shortly."

"Thank you."

She watched as the nurse disappeared and she was left in her hell again. Empty dim room enveloped in silence broken only by the beeping of the machine. It was like a prison. It reminded Michiru of the dungeon Haruka kept her in. It may have been more comfortable, but what she felt on the inside was the same: she did not know what tomorrow would bring and she was not sure she wanted the morning to come, not if every minute of the night stretched for ages, making her mind spin in a circle without any hope of stopping. Unlike the time she was kept in the locked room, though, now she had a nice nurse who took care of her. Michiru's eyes finally grew heavy and the beeping became welcome. Because with every beep, a drop of relief was brought into her system.

**x x x  
**

Ichiro got the call from one of his men shortly after the body of his sister was discovered in the bathhouse. Not sparing any details, the caller told him that Yasu was found unconscious in a pool of blood. There was no damage to her other than a severely mutilated foot. Yasu was taken to the hospital and the caller was waiting for the orders to start looking into the matter. After curtly explaining that he would take the matters in his own hands, Ichiro hang up the phone and stared into space. This was not quite what he expected. He grabbed the keys and left his office.

**x x x  
**

Daiki was awakened by the shrill of his cellphone just after midnight. It took him a minute to figure out where he was and why his head was hurting. He roughly pushed the woman who was cuddled next to him away and grabbed the annoying device.

"What?" He barked into the phone, dropping his feet over the edge of the bed. As he listened, his already angered expression became solemn. The presence of early stages of hangover was worked out of his system by the short message and he was left in a completely sober and honestly terrified state. He hang up the phone and stared into space, wondering what his next move, let alone step, should be.

"Why don't you get back in bed, it's cold?"

The woman's seductive voice reached him, followed by a pair of arms that circled around his waist. Daiki grabbed her by the wrists and threw her back on the bed. "Get the fuck off me."

He ignored her shocked expression as he picked up his clothes and put them on. The flat was small and smelled of sex and cigarettes. For the first time, Daiki noticed that both smells were familiar. The first scent was not a mystery, it was the second that surprised him. His eyes roamed the room until they settled on the square coffee table. Next to a simple black round ashtray that was filled with cigarette butts lay a single pack. Daiki picked up the peach-colored pack of 'Pianissimo' and stared at it dumbly. He only knew one person who liked this particular taste, which he always found odd. Peach menthol. How drunk was he not to notice that scent before? The pack crushed slightly in his hand as he squeezed it and headed for the door.

"Hey, those are mine!"

"Get yourself a new one." He gave the brunette woman who was hugging a sheet around her naked body a last glance and walked out of the door. Figuring that the pack may have been some sort of a sign, he decided to head for the hospital.

**x x x  
**

The emergency room was as busy as ever. It was not a holiday, there were no big events that would lead to the amount of patients that it received that night, but the fact remained the same: they were working in overdrive. The residents and nurses were running around the vast space where the patients were received first, trying to aid those they could or send them off to the right doctor. Another ambulance pulled in front of the sliding double-doors, cutting the smoking break of those who stood there short.

"All right, Saiki-san, it's all yours."

The resident smiled nervously with appreciation. "Yes, Sensei." She ran to the ambulance and listened as the medics quickly explained what the problem was. The young woman wheeled the gurney in with the help of a few nurses who came out at the sound of the approaching sirens. The watchful eyes of the doctor assessed the situation as they passed her and she reluctantly put the peach-colored pack of cigarettes away.

'_So much for having days off.'_ She followed them in and let the resident walk her through the patient's condition, even though she already knew everything that had to be done. The patient had a sever burn trauma, lucky for him, the plastic surgeon was on call that night and was physically present at the hospital because of the amount of patients.

"Saiki-san, get Noumi-senpai."

"Yes, Sensei." The young resident bowed and ran off to find the plastic surgeon.

"Let's put him in an empty room for now, he needs sterilized environment. I think 6 is open."

The nurses seemed to be happy to escape the madhouse and disappear into the small room with their patient and the emergency room doctor. Shortly after, a stocky middle-aged man entered the room and quickly assessed the patient's condition.

"You're right, we're going to have to graft some of that over, but it's not as bad as it seems. You would have to do that Abe-senpai."

Her almost yellow eyes narrowed at the man. "I beg you pardon? You're right here, it's not my specialty."

"May I have a word?" The man walked to the door, not waiting for her to reply. She followed him out and they walked down the hall, away from the madness. "I know this is not your specialty, but I also know that you could do pretty much anything under pressure, I've seen you do it. You have a god given talent to work in ER, that's why you're here."

"And your attempt at kissing my ass right now is necessary because?" She stared in his brown eyes in annoyance.

He shifted uncomfortably, not used to her being impolite. "I have to leave the hospital within the next twenty minutes. I've been called to Tokyo to see a badly-injured patient."

"If you think that your cryptic explanation is enough, you're delirious. Justify to me why you have to see a patient in Tokyo, where they have dozens of plastic surgeons, as opposed to seeing your own right here, where you belong."

"I don't have to justify myself to you. I'm the best plastic surgeon around."

"That may be so, but even your status as _one_ of the best plastic surgeons around will not prevent the suspension that you'll get if I mention that you abandoned a patient in the ER to run off to Tokyo."

He considered her for a moment. She has always been polite and nice, he has only seen the mean side of her in the ER, when she was fighting on her patients' behalf. At this moment, he realized that composure and politeness was a front, not the other way around as he thought previously. She very well could have tried to affect his career because he walked out on one of her patients. "Very well. A patient came into ER a short while ago with a severely mutilated foot. They want me to save as much of it as I can."

She still did not look convinced. "They don't need one of the best plastic surgeons to do that."

He sighed in frustration. "It's Wada Yasu, you don't say no to those people unless you have a death wish."

That seemed to convince her, or at least in his eyes. He took the momentary shocked expression on her face for the recognition of the name and the realization that he was dealing with dangerous people. Which, in his own mind, added to his own worth. Little did he know that Sayuri knew the woman he spoke of personally and it was the nature of her injury that shocked Sayuri, not her identity.

"Fine, go, I'll cover for you." She suddenly felt the overbearing need to have another cigarette.

He did not even thank her, just gave her a curt nod, like anyone of a higher status would. She did not pay any attention to his antics. Sayuri walked out of the nearest exit and pulled the pack of cigarettes out, lit one up and inhaled the peach menthol flavor of her Pianissimo's. She cut all ties with Tokyo, severed all of her relationships to build a new life in Osaka. Since her life revolved around the ER, it was not as hard as one may have thought. Sure she missed her family, but she was not sure if it was time yet to resurface, as far as they knew she went overseas. The cigarette ended and she lit up another one, still thinking. This time, about Daiki. There were many occasions on which she wanted to call him, especially as the memories of her escape from Tokyo became blurred with time. For someone who thought she just had a casual arrangement with him, she sure got attached. She never cared how many women he slept with or who was the most important person in the world for him, so long as she had him by her side occasionally, and generally on her own terms. If he was still around, now would have been the time she would call him.

Sayuri crushed the butt of the cigarette into a dispenser and took a third one out. If Daiki was around, he would have yelled at her for smoking so much, but he was not there. She sighed and pulled out her cellphone. After a short moment she dialed a number from memory and listened to the long rings on the other side.

"_Hello?"_ A sleepy voice answered on the other end of the line.

"Sorry to wake you up, this is Abe Sayuri."

"_Sayuri? What… I thought… Where did you disappear to?"_

"It's not important at the moment. How are things there?"

"_What things?"ˆ_

"How is Haruka?"

"_She's Haruka. She's always the same. Cold, mean and bitchy." _Sayuri laughed at the almost hurt boyish voice. _"At least she has a reason to be that way lately, I guess."_

Sayuri's smile disappeared. "What happened, Hiro?" He hesitated, for obvious reasons. "Hiro, I know that you value her privacy and that you have nothing but adoration for her, but I need you to tell me what happened, just in case I may help. You know that she would never ask."

He sighed and Sayuri knew she hit the right spot. Haruka would not ask for help, not from those she deeply cared for, because she would never want to put them in danger. Hiro knew that well.

"_Wadas resurfaced a few months ago. Michiru was assaulted last week."_

Now this was beyond curiosity. This was personal, Michiru was once a patient, which made her a patient forever. Meaning that she was of great concern. "What happened to Michiru?"

"_She was beat up pretty badly, she's in a hospital. They tried to keep it on the low, so that the media doesn't find out. But she's still there. In the hospital."_

"Which hospital?"

"_I dunno. But I don't think it's the one you worked at."_

"Where was she assaulted?"

"_City center."_

"I see. Thank you."

"_No problem."_

"Hiro?"

"_Yes?"_

"Save this phone number as something discreet and call me if you ever need help or one of them needs help."

"_Okay."_

"Good Night."

"_Night."_

Sayuri hang up and lit another cigarette. _'I leave and all hell breaks loose?'_

As the white smoke slowly filled the cool night air, Sayuri pulled out a small white phone she always had on her and dialed the only saved number. In Tokyo, an identical phone vibrated inside a security box. The noise was muffled by the papers it lay on top of, but it would not have made much of a difference even if it rang out loud. No one could hear the ringing of a phone locked in a security box inside of a building that was empty for the night.

"_Your call is being forwarded to an automatic -"_ She hang up.

'_What if I did have an emergency? So much for relying on what people tell you!'_ Sayuri tried it once more and gave up. Putting Haruka's problems aside, she made the last call of the night.

"Connect me to St. Luke's hospital in Tokyo." She waited as the service connected her to the switchboard. Getting through to someone who cared for a patient in the middle of the night was almost hopeless and she knew it, but she had to try. After ten minutes of being constantly transferred, Sayuri was put on the phone with the doctor who was in charge of Michiru's floor for the night.

"I'm calling about Kaioh Michiru. I'm her doctor."

"_What was your name again?"_

"Abe Sayuri."

"_Your name is not in her file, she must give authorization before I discuss any of the information about her condition."_

"Listen, I don't care about the information you do or do not feel like sharing with me, I only need to know one thing and unless you want to lose your job, kid, you better listen to what I have to say."

The silence on the other end of the line made her worried that the young doctor actually hang up. _"One thing."_

She stifled a sigh and crushed the cigarette butt into dispenser. "Please tell me that you did not put her on an opioid."

There was another long silence before a defensive voice came back on the line. _"Her injuries are quite extensive, we had to give her something for the pain."_

"What is she on?"

"_Heroin… but it's in a controlled amount, it will not cause dependency, we already lowered the doze earlier today."_

Sayuri bashed her forehead into the concrete wall in frustration. "She's a recovering heroin addict."

"…"

"Well, that was the one thing I wanted to say. Good luck."

She hang up the phone and threw it in her pocket wanting nothing more but to stay out and either keep bashing her head or smoking. There were no more cigarettes left in the pack and her head was still needed to help the patients she was supposed to oversee, so neither was really an option. She threw the peach-colored pack into the waste basket and walked inside. After all, she had skin to graft.

**x x x**_**  
**_

No matter where he went, hospital hallways always seemed to be the same. They used to have more meaning than seeing the victims of crimes, at least for a short period of time that he has known Sayuri. As he walked towards the waiting room at the emergency department in the hospital he was so familiar with, Daiki wondered why he was so nostalgic all of a sudden. It was not like him, so why the hell did he keep thinking about Sayuri?

"Are you here on business or pleasure?"

The cold yet sarcastic voice greeted him as he appeared from behind a corner.

'_Hopefully both.'_ Daiki bowed to the man in front of him. "Business, of course."

Ichiro's eyes narrowed. He suspected that Daiki was satisfied with the knowledge that Yasu was harmed, but perhaps too intimidated to admit to it? "Ara, should we be honored that Superintendent General himself makes an appearance for such a trivial matter?"

"There has been a rise of assaults in the city lately and we are investigating them to our fullest capacity."

"Is that so? Or is it because you know exactly who is responsible for this assault?"

Daiki felt a shiver run down his spine at the look he got from Ichiro. For the first time he wondered if Haruka got a chance to speak with the man before she acted, like she was planning to.

"I have no idea what you are referring to, Wada-san."

"Hm. Really?" Ichiro walked to one of the benches and took a seat. "Sit down, Sanu-san. If you wish to speak with my sister, she is still in surgery, probably will be for a while."

Daiki sat down opposite Ichiro and studied him covertly. Ichiro's posture was absolutely relaxed, he leaned into the back of the bench and seemed like he was almost sleeping. His eyes were closed and his breathing was steady.

"Please stop staring, you're making me feel uncomfortable."

Daiki's eyebrows rose as the black eyes opened and looked straight through him, or so it seemed.

"Wada-san."

They both turned at the sight of a doctor who appeared in the room. Ichiro got up and walked up to the tall, lanky man, who continued. "Your sister is currently recuperating from the blood loss, we have started to work on her foot. The surgeon you have requested should be here within the hour and we will assess you of our progression as we go."

Ichiro raised his left hand to stop the doctor. "Don't bother. How long will the operation take?"

The tall man shifted uncomfortable. "Well, it's akin to reconstructive surgery, it will take hours, I am not sure if I can give you an estimate, but it may last well into the morning hours."

Ichiro nodded. "Fine. I will come back in the morning, have someone contact me if the surgery is over before then."

"Yes, Wada-san." The doctor bowed and disappeared where he came from.

"You're leaving?" Daiki stood up as well.

"I have more important matters to attend to." Ichiro put his hands in his pockets and walked towards the exit out of the hospital.

Daiki followed him. "Where are you going?"

Ichiro stopped at the entrance doors, took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up. "What the fuck are you my babysitter?"

Daiki was at a loss of words, which was unusual.

"Is there something bothering you, Daiki? Do you want to share that something with me?" Ichiro breathed out the smoke and nodded at Daiki's expressionless face. "Didn't think so. Don't even think of following me."

Daiki stood there, watching the receding figure. Finally, he picked up the phone and dialed a number. After his call was sent straight to voicemail three times, he shoved it back in his pocket. "Fuck, kid, what did you get yourself into?"

**x x x**_**  
**_

Her head was held firmly between her knees, her hands wrapped around her legs. She sat there for hours, oblivious to what was around her or that the time has passed at all.

"You look like you're on a plane that's about to crash."

She ignored him as he sat down next to her, wrapping his hand around her shoulders. She shook it off and he sighed audibly, extending a bottle he held to her instead. "You should've killed her, as it is, your plane might very well crash."

"..." Haruka raised her head and grabbed the offered bottle of sake.

"I thought you were gonna kill her. Why didn't you?"

"It wouldn't have meant anything to her… or me. Dying is just moving on, it doesn't serve justice to those who suffer alive." She passed the bottle to him.

"And this does? I mean, don't get me wrong, she probably won't walk again on her own, without a prosthetic, let alone drive… but… you just made a sworn enemy out of a psychopath."

"Ichi, it's not nice to talk about your sister like that." She grabbed the bottle back.

"Don't deflect."

"She won't do anything by herself. She'll need an accomplice and you won't do it."

"I'm sure she can find someone. A hired gun."

"You'll hear about it." Haruka hid her face again as she passed the bottle back.

Ichiro scoffed. "So you play her own game, taunt her in the same way she taunted your girlfriend and then you want me to protect your ass? You're fucking insane or plain stupid."

"Pick one."

They looked at each other until Ichiro shook his head in despair. "I know you aren't stupid, so that leaves insane, but I already have one of those. Can't you be different?"

"I thought you said I was special, isn't that different?" She smirked.

"Wise ass." He ruffled her hair and this time she did not avoid his touch. "How are you stomaching it?" He grew serious.

Haruka turned back to the city and sighed barely audibly. "It's just never as good as you hope it'd be, but you know that better than I do."

Ichiro nodded. "That's not what I meant."

"I know." She emptied the leftover contents of the bottle and set it on the ground. "I need sex."

"Yeah, I'd offer to help, but you're on your own with that one."

"You wouldn't help a friend in despair?" She looked at him with puppy eyes.

Ichiro gaped at her. "Are you fucking serious? That's just disgusting! Have you even had sex with a man?"

"No. You want to take my virginity?"

"Stop fucking with me."

She batted her eyelashes for another minute before finally giving up and laughing it off. Once her mirth was exhausted, she calmed down and looked at him seriously. "I'm sorry. I do need sex, though. Michiru can really make me forget about anything and everything."

He studied her sorrowful features. "Go visit her. You're tired, you're regretting what you did, you need to get back to the bright side."

"I don't regret what I did in the sense that you think I do."

He chuckled. "You're regretting not that you killed them, you're regretting that you didn't kill her despite your pride. Your pride made you think that making her suffer was what you wanted to do." He looked into her eyes and for a second she felt like he was looking into the depths of her soul, which made her shiver. The depths of her soul contained the little girl who was still good-intentioned and that black look chilled Haruka's insides as it made its way through her system. He did know her well, at least the bad side of her.

"Why are you upset that I didn't kill her?"

Ichiro rubbed his face with both palms. "I'm not upset."

"Liar."

"She used me. As simple as that."

"What's stopping you from killing her? The fact that she has the balls in the family?"

Ichiro stood up and gave her a long menacing look, which did nothing to scare her, unlike the honest look into her soul he gave her before. "You know, most people would be dead if they said that to me."

"I've told you worse. Someone has to kick your sorry ass back to the ground from that pedestal you've set yourself on."

"True." He extended his hand and helped her up. "You want me to give you a ride? It's on my way."

"Please tell me you didn't put the bitch in the same hospital."

"Fuck no. You think I want to have nothing else to do than to worry what Yasu might do to Michiru again? I can still give you a ride though."

"Nah." She brushed the dirt off of her leather pants. "Since I can't have sex, I'll go for a ride."

"You could always have sex on the way to the hospital."

Their eyes met and Haruka shook her head. "Faithfulness is in fashion, haven't you heard?"

"I knew you were into art, but fashion? Every day something new, ne?"

"Yeah. Every day something new." Haruka's hand reached back and settled on the warm handle of her Beretta. "I'm sorry, Ichi, I can't have you change your mind again."

Her hand never wavered as he froze in shock and looked at her with the most open emotions she has ever seen on his face: shock... realization... betrayal... pain. He did not even have an opportunity to regret thinking that the bond of trust between the two of them has resurfaced as the single bullet lodged itself in the middle of his forehead. His limp body fell to the ground, followed by crystal-like tears that got quickly observed by the ground. As quickly as the blood streaming out of his wound.


	28. Running in Circles

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 28**

**Running in Circles**

"Hideo, why are you still awake?"

He turned to the woman standing in the doorframe of the library. "I'm doing some research. Why aren't you sleeping?"

"I can't fall asleep." She walked to him and wrapped her hands around his shoulders, placing a kiss on the side of his neck. Her light blue eyes studied the computer screen as her mouth worked on the warm skin. Almost as if sensing her purpose, Hideo closed the lid of his laptop and moved his chair out.

"It's late. Let's go to bed."

He walked to the door, not waiting for his wife, and turned the lights off. Eiko scoffed and followed him out of the room. His coldness was nothing new, in the end, that was exactly why she has been looking for entertainment outside of her marriage for years. What bothered her more was the fact that he was researching Haruka. The incident at the hospital the day Michiru woke up after her surgery affected him more than she hoped it would, and he has been on a prowl to find out as much as he could about the blonde. To Eiko's relief and curiosity, he seemed to be failing so far.

**x x x  
**

It was still dark in the early hours of the morning. The lights of the city were far in the distance below the hill and not a sound reached the observation deck where two figures stood.

"Yeah. Every day something new." Haruka's hand reached back and settled on the warm handle of her Beretta.

"_I'm sorry, Ichi, I can't have you change your mind again." Her hand never wavered as he froze in shock and looked at her with the most open emotions she has ever seen on his face: shock... realization... betrayal... pain. He did not even have an opportunity to regret thinking that the bond of trust between the two of them has resurfaced as the single bullet lodged itself in the middle of his forehead. His limp body fell to the ground, followed by crystal-like tears that got quickly absorbed by the ground. As quickly as the blood streaming out of his wound. _

Everything seemed to still for a few seconds until a gust of wind broke the silence and alerted Haruka to the voice that was trying to reach her for some time now.

"Haruka." "Haruka?" "Haruka!"

"Hmm?" She came out of her very visual thoughts and looked at the man standing by his car.

"You're pointing a gun at me."

"Oh… yeah." She looked at him funny and shook off the remainder of the image that played itself in her head. "Can you get rid of it for me?"

He walked back up and took it out of her hand, separating each of the fingers that seemed to be clamped to the small frame. His black eyes bored into her scull. "Why didn't you do it?"

"Are we back to that?" She scowled at him.

He shook his head as she finally let go of the gun. "No, not that. Just now. Why didn't you take that shot?"

"What?" Her eyes doubled in size.

His hand dropped to the side, holding the small weapon she just handed over. "Come on, give me some credit. I can read you like a piece of blank paper when you're in my world. You wanted to kill me, just now. Why didn't you?"

She straightened and squared her shoulders. Her blue eyes rested on his black ones. "Because even if you chose to betray me again, there is nothing that will save me in your absence. It's just a gamble I have to take, no matter my doubts."

"I guess I deserved as much." He wrapped the hand that held the gun around her shoulders and brought her into a hug. Haruka stood there for a while before her own hands came up and clutched at the jacket on his back. Even though not a tear escaped her, they both knew she was crying. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna change my mind on you. I've gotta have at least one insane woman in my life. I'll take the one who was ready to shoot me in the face and didn't over the one who used me any day." She chuckled and they both let go. "Besides, you just handed me the gun, so there must be some trust deep down. I wouldn't want to lose that again. I need my shrink."

"Is that all I am to you? A shrink?"

"That and so much more." He winked and walked to his car. "You're turning mush on me, it's blinding. Go see your girlfriend."

Haruka put the helmet on and straddled her bike. "Go see your sister, she'll envelope you in the darkness you like so much."

"Not all of us can walk both sides of the line, Haru. That's what makes you special."

He got inside and revved the engine, leaving the observation deck without another look. Haruka just sat there, watching him depart and wondering how many mistakes she made that night. It was true, she deeply regretted not killing Yasu on one hand, while satisfied by what she did on the other. She considered killing Ichiro so seriously that she pictured it in her mind, and still did not follow through. Should she have? Then again, she actually had an attachment to him. One she was still unwilling to admit to. She revved her engine and drove home.

**x x x  
**

"I'm in pain, why can't you give me something, it's you job!"

Michiru was curled up in a ball on her hospital bed, hugging her broken hand close. She woke up in the early hours of the morning in pain, the pain that was absent until now. Since then, she wished to feel like she did the night before: sleepless, but numb. Instead, she could feel every inch in her body with a varying degree of pain.

"I'm sorry, Kaioh-san, but there is nothing else I can do." The nurse gave her a compassionate look and left the room.

Michiru picked up the pillow and threw it in the direction of the door that opened to reveal her mother. The pillow fell to Eiko's feet and she raised her questioning eyes to the heavily breathing young woman in bed.

"What's going on?" She closed the door, walked inside and set her purse in a chair by the wall.

"They won't give me pain killers, that's what's going on!"

"Why?" She put her hand on Michiru's forehead in a calming gesture and felt the heat scold the palm of her hand. "You're burning up. Let me find your doctor."

Eiko left the room and approached the nursing station. "Excuse me, I need to speak with someone about my daughter."

The nurse who checked on Michiru a short while ago got up and walked around the counter. "What can we do, Kaioh-san?"

"She's in pain and she's burning up. I would like someone to first tell me why and then to resolve that."

"Let me get the doctor for you."

"Thank you."

Shortly after the nurse disappeared in one of the rooms, the young doctor came out and greeted Eiko.

"I'm sorry, Kaioh-san, but I have spoken with your daughter's doctor and she advised me of some problems Michiru has had in the past with substance abuse. We had to switch her to a non-opioid pain killer and I'm afraid that it does not have the same effect. Her fever is actually a sideffect of the detox, so it should subside shortly."

Eiko felt like she just fell asleep and was having a nightmare. "Who did you speak with?"

"I believe her name was Abe-sensei. She phoned last night."

The name did not ring a bell for Eiko, nor did she understand why Michiru's doctor would call almost a week after she was admitted to the hospital. "There is nothing we can do?"

"I'm afraid not."

"I want to speak with that doctor myself."

The young man shifted from one foot to the other. "I'm sorry, but she didn't leave any contact information."

"So let me see if I got this right. You have spoken with some stranger that phoned you in the middle of the night and took her word as true, without ever doubting anything she said or even bothering to ask about her contact information. Further, you have changed my daughter's medication because of what you were told. Does any of it ring suspicious to you? Or at least irresponsible?"

He gulped audibly under her cold glare, but stood his ground. "That may not be very professional, Kaioh-san, but your daughter's reaction to being taken off of the opioid makes me believe everything Abe-sensei told me."

"What was she on?"

"Diamorphine."

"In street terms?"

"Heroin."

If eyes could kill, the young man would have been dead at the spot. Eiko was at a loss for words as cold sweat trickled down her rigid spine. She needed Haruka and she needed her fast.

"You better fix the mess you created." She walked away to the elevator banks and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed Haruka's number and listened to the long rings on the other end of the line.

"_Your message is being -"_

This was not something Eiko was going to leave on a voicemail. Instead, she typed up a short message and sent it to the blonde.

**x x x  
**

The scolding-hot water felt good to her sore body, but the steam that filled the shower cabin reminded her of the day before. She was expecting to have nightmares like she did after the accident, but her sleep was light and dreamless. After battling with her system for a few hours, she got up and walked into the shower. Haruka turned off the faucet and stepped out. She dried herself with one of the two white towels that hang on the bars and walked into the closet in her bedroom. She picked out a pair of jeans and a fitted shirt, her regular day-to-day clothing. After she got dressed, she picked up her cellphone from the nightstand and powered it on.

Naturally, she had a variety of missed calls and some e-mails. Going through the list, she noted that Daiki called her around midnight, which meant that he knew about what happened. Eiko called her just a few minutes ago and she also sent her an e-mail.

_Need you at the hospital. _

It was a bit too cryptic for Haruka's liking. She knew Michiru needed her, just like Haruka needed Michiru, but she still had a few errands to run before she could go there and spend whatever time the violinist had left at the hospital with her.

**x x x  
**

"Have you even left?"

Daiki raised his head and looked at the man standing in front of him. He was wearing a different shirt and probably a different black suit, even though they all looked the same to Daiki. Upon a closer inspection, Daiki noticed that Ichiro did not look refreshed at all, which meant that he did not get any sleep, which, perhaps, meant that he was looking for the person responsible for his sister's misfortune. That assumption made Daiki very worried.

"No, I've been here, waiting for your sister to wake up."

"I wouldn't want to be here when that happens if I were you."

"Why is that?"

Ichiro walked up closer, so that they would not be overheard. Daiki stood up and waited for the answer.

"Because she is going to be madder than she has ever been and you and I both know who is responsible for her being in this condition. Don't indulge her in ability to take it off on you."

"You know?"

Ichiro scoffed. "Of course I know, who do you take me for?"

Daiki swallowed and picked his words carefully. "Is she…?"

"She's fine."

Daiki nodded and stifled a sigh of relief. "Let me know if there is anything I can do for you."

Ichiro raised an eyebrow. "You shouldn't throw statements like that around, Superintendent General, I might just take you up on the offer."

"So long as that insures her safety, I'm okay with that."

Ichiro laughed. "Is this because you care for your relative or is this because you know you screwed up and got her into this mess?"

"I guess it's both."

"Very honorable. You should mention to her that you care, because the way things look from the outside, you care for no one but yourself, which isn't true. She could use you back in her life."

Daiki openly stared at the man. He did not expect Ichiro to have such an insight into the relationship he and Haruka had, how would he? Daiki knew there was some history between Haruka and Wadas, but right now he wondered exactly how deep that history went, not that he was going to ask.

"I appreciate the concern."

"Don't. My concern doesn't lay with you, it's her I care about."

"Then I guess we do have something in common, other than driving."

"Yes, we do." Ichiro gave the man in front of him another glance and left to find his sister. For his own sake, he was hoping that she would still be asleep.

No such luck. The minute he opened the door to the room Yasu was occupying, her black eyes settled on his figure and her face contorted in anger.

"Where the fuck have you been?"

He ignored her outburst and took a seat in one of the chairs. "How are you feeling?"

"How am I feeling?" She pointed at the gauze that was wrapped heavily around her right foot. "How the fuck do you think I'm feeling? They're not sure I'll be able to walk again."

"Whose fault is it?" He asked in an even tone that was the opposite of her high-pitched screaming.

"What?" She stared at him in disbelief.

"I told you not to mess with Haruka, but you decided to ignore me, as always, and did as you wished. Whose fault is it that you ended up here?"

Yasu's nostrils flared and her fists tightened before she used another technique. She curled into a ball and tears streamed down her cheeks. "But Ichi, I didn't do anything to her and she mutilated my foot. You have to protect me. You have to punish her."

He watched her performance indifferently and realized how much of a fool he was to ever be touched by her tears and her pleadings. She had no feelings other than jealousy and envy left in her, yet he stood by her side his whole life. He seemed pathetic to himself, even more so than she was.

"Yasu, your act will no longer work on me, so you can stop crying."

"W-what are you tal-talking about?" She sobbed.

"I'm done with you using me, so save it."

It was almost as though his words turned off the faucet because her tears stopped as quickly as they have began. She straightened back out and calmly looked into his black eyes. "So you aren't going to help me?"

"No. Moreover, you will leave Haru alone. If you don't I will personally make you regret it. Is that understood?"

She looked like she was somewhere far, in her own world, probably plotting his and Haruka's demise. Ichiro patiently waited for her eyes to focus on reality again before repeating his question.

"Did you understand me, Yasu?"

"Yes, I got it."

"Good." He got up and towered over her. "I have business to run, so give me a call if you need me, otherwise, have a quick and good recovery."

Ichiro kissed her forehead and left the room, feeling the black eyes bore through his back the whole time. While Yasu was in the hospital, he needed to make a few changes and ensure that he, of all people, was protected from her psychotic behavior.

**x x x  
**

"Good Morning, Takeushi-san."

"Morning, Giada-san."

"Are you just looking for access today?"

"As usual."

"This way please."

The two walked through the spacious lobby of the bank and stopped at a door to the side. The bank employee swiped his card and entered the security code, opening the door wide for his client. Another man walked up to the door from inside the hallway and smiled at the customer he knew well.

"Takeushi-san, it's a pleasure."

"Likewise."

Giada closed the door behind them and the two proceeded to the end of the hallway, where a door was unlocked after another swipe of a card and a pass code.

"I'll be right here, please let me know if I may be of any assistance."

"Thank you, Ikari-san."

Haruka waited for him to close the door behind her and walked to her security box. After she unlocked it, she picked up two identical white phones from the top of a pile of papers and checked them both for missed calls or messages. Her brow furrowed as one of the phones indicated that she indeed missed a call. She clicked on the number and redialed. Her call went into voicemail and she sighed.

"_It's me. Call me back."_

Haruka looked at the other phone thoughtfully and went through the contact list. Her finger still hovered above the 'send' button in hesitation when the other device rang in her left hand.

"Tenoh."

"_So you don't pick up when I call, but I'm supposed to call you right back?"_

"Thank you. You just reminded me exactly why I had to ship you off to Osaka."

"_Oh, silly me thought that you were trying to save my life… wait… how do you know I'm in Osaka?"_

"I have my ways. Anyway, is everything alright?"

"_You tell me."_

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"_Well, I have my ways of getting information too and I hear you've been on a personal vendetta against a certain racer."_

Haruka looked at the phone in complete bewilderment, wondering if she was still talking to Sayuri and how on earth the doctor knew about what happened just some hours ago. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"_Oh please, child, I wasn't born yesterday, nor do I really care. What I am concerned about, though, is my patient."_

"Your patient?"

"_Are you having one of those days when you're completely dumb?"_

"I don't have those days."

"_No kidding. I'm talking about Michiru."_

"What about Michiru?"

"_They put her on diamorphine."_

"That tells me nothing."

"_It's medicinal form of heroin used to relieve pain in post-surgical patients or ones with severe damage to their bodies."_

"…"

"_I spoke with the doctor on duty last night and made him freak out, so he probably just pulled the plug and put her on something non-opioid based, which will pretty much make her go through a process similar to the one earlier in the year, only with the added beauty of being in pain. You might wanna be by her side."_

"Fuck." Her fist flew to the nearby security box and stopped just a millimeter away from the impact. Another damaged hand was not a solution.

"_Yes, that's really all I was calling for."_

"Say."

"_Hmm?"_

"It's safe for you to come back now."

"_I'm okay here, thanks."_

"Suit yourself."

"_You… you didn't tell Daiki where I am by any chance, have you?"_

"Miss your fuck buddy?"

"_Never mind."_

Haruka sighed. "No, I haven't told him, Say. You can do that yourself if you feel like it. He did take care of the threat you were under, after all. He cares."

"_I know he does. I'm just not sure if I want him to."_

"Do they feed you something that leads to brain disease in Osaka? Is it the water? You're not making any sense today."

"_Oh, it's just so lovely to talk to you again, Haruka. It reminds me of why I am still in Osaka."_

The static broke silence that lasted for over a minute while both of them were thinking of how to end the conversation. "You know, I'll stop making fun of you if it makes you move back to Tokyo."

"_Really? You'd do that for me? I'm so touched. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? You're all touchy-feely. I like the old Haruka. Call me when she's back!"_

Haruka stared at the cellphone that was sending the short signals. _'Did she just hang up on me? That's something new.'_

She shook her head, unlocked the other phone and pressed the 'send' button. After a long absence of any sound, a dial finally came through. After four rings, the phone was answered.

"Guten Abend."

"'n Abend."

"Haruka?"

"Yes. How are you?"

"Well, and yourself?"

"Same old, same old."

"What can I do for you?"

"There may be some developments with the boy I asked you to locate. Keep an eye on him in case he decides to move. Don't intervene, just follow, but don't lose him."

"Understood."

She put the other phone back and pulled a photo that was on top of the pile of paper. On it, a blonde green-eyed three-year-old boy smiled as he rode a pony. She wondered when his hair would change to resemble his mother's.

"Hanz, is there anything new on the father?"

"No. It's a dead end on this side of the world. I think you need to look in your neck of the woods. I'll send you the DNA work-up, maybe that will help."

"You do that. Also, let me know if anything changes."

"As always."

"Thank you."

"Auf Wiederhören, Haruka."

"Gute Nacht, Hanz."

She disconnected and put the phone next to its twin. The next moment the safety box was closed and Haruka was on her way to the hospital. She had no more excuses not to go there.

**x x x  
**

The agitated voice could be heard all the way to the elevator banks. Haruka sighed and walked towards the commotion. She found three nurses in Michiru's room, trying to calm the screaming violinist down. For a few minutes she stood unnoticed, until one of the nurses turned around and looked at her in despair.

"Get out."

The low, but menacing tone quieted down both the agitated patient and the desperate nurse who was trying to calm her down. Four pairs of eyes settled on the blonde who stood by the door. Haruka pulled the panel behind her open wider and gestured towards the opening with her head.

"Out."

The women looked at each other and quietly left the room. Haruka closed the door behind them shut and faced her girlfriend.

"You're back!" Michiru smiled wide from the bed.

"I am." Haruka's attitude was at least ten degrees cooler.

"I'm happy."

"Not for long."

Michiru's smile disappeared. "How so?"

"What do you think you're doing?" Haruka walked up closer and towered over the smaller woman.

"What are you talking about?"

"You have become a nuisance to all of those nurses. They're just doing their job."

"B -" Michiru was at a loss of words. She was waiting for Haruka to come back, she was so worried about her, she was imagining the moment the blonde walked through that door and embraced her. Instead, she got the cold woman she met standing in the middle of the room. There was absolutely nothing of Haruka Michiru came to know in the racer standing in front of her. She was distant and indifferent. Michiru sat up and squared her shoulders. "They are the ones who aren't doing their job. I'm in tremendous pain and they won't help me."

"It's your own fault, so don't blame others for doing their job."

"If you came here to lecture me, you can just leave." She blinked profusely to stop the tears that were welling in her eyes from dropping.

"You won't listen to anyone else, so I'll lecture you whether you want it or not. You'll get through this, you don't need to make everyone else's life a living hell because something you did affects your treatment methods."

"Seems to me like you don't really care if I get through this or not, instead you care what others feel! So why don't you leave me alone to get through this without your petty lectures!" She turned away to hide the tears that fell freely. She was hurt and angered at the same time and she wanted nothing more than to be left alone again. The mattress behind her dipped and she felt a strong arm wrap itself around her shoulders, pulling her against Haruka's torso.

"I don't give a shit what others feel, Michiru. I only care about you and if you keep agitating them, the only response you'll get is a backlash. You'll get through this… we will get through this… because I will not leave you alone again, not until you're ready to go home."

Michiru relaxed into the embrace and her tears dropped on top of Haruka's arm, wetting the sleeve of her suede jacket. The breath that warmed up her ear as Haruka spoke only made her tears fall faster. Her body still hurt so much, but somehow it felt better when she was being held like that. She almost believed that Haruka's presence would make it all better.

"Don't ever leave me again."

"I won't, mermaid."

Haruka used her left hand to dip Michiru's head back. The wet ocean blues connected with the midnight ones and Haruka kissed the trembling lips she missed so much. Their gentle kiss soon turned passionate and both fought to remember where they were and stay decent.

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

Haruka separated herself unwillingly and turned to face the speaker. Michiru put her head on Haruka's shoulder and smiled at her mother. "I am."

"Good. Does that mean that I cant stop bringing your nurses presents?"

"You've been bringing them presents?" Michiru stared at her mother in shock.

"Well, more like little things here and there, such as soft drinks and food. You've been a royal pain, I didn't want it to affect your treatment."

"Ha."

Michiru scowled at beaming Haruka.

"What?" The blonde looked at her girlfriend defensively. "I told you."

"Whatever." Michiru leaned back on her bed and Haruka got up, relocating to a nearby chair. "How did…" Michiru glanced at her mother. "How did that errand you were going to run go?"

Haruka leaned to the small side table and picked up the paper she dropped while she was lecturing Michiru. She unfolded the front page and handed it to Michiru.

_Massacre at a Local Bathhouse. _

_A rival armed Yakuza group is blamed in the massacre that occurred last night at about ten o'clock at night at a local bath house. Wada Yasu, 29, is reported to have suffered an extensive injury to her right foot, while her three bodyguards have been found dead. The nature of the crime leads to the conclusion that the incident is a result of a rivalry between the Wada clan and one of their counterparts…_

Michiru stopped reading and looked at Haruka's unreadable face. "An eye for an eye?"

"Naturally."

"You think that was wise?"

"Probably not, but much more meaningful."

"Should I be worried?"

"Not as long as I'm alive." Haruka smiled, while Michiru rolled the newspaper and hit her on the forearm.

"Don't joke like that, baka."

'_I wasn't joking.' _Haruka just shrugged her shoulders.

Eiko was watching them from the chair by the wall without having any idea what they were talking about. Her intuition told her that it had to do with Michiru's assault, but she figured she could always look at the newspaper later and make her own conclusions.

"Haruka."

"Hmm?" She turned to face the older blonde.

"I found Hideo searching your name online. Should that be of concern?"

Haruka thought for a moment. "Did he search 'Tenoh Haruka'?"Eiko nodded. "Then no, but thank you for bringing that up."

"You're welcome." Eiko was even more confused.

"You probably stepped on his heel last time he saw you." Michiru mused from the bed_._

"We both did. He just doesn't have anything against you. I'm the evil one." Her gaze became distant as Haruka considered any way Hideo would come across any of her aliases and connect the dots. She did not see any at this point, but she definitely had to stay alert, lest she brings the whole operation in danger because of her love life.

**x x x  
**

'_Who are you, Tenoh Haruka?'_

Hideo stared blankly at his computer screen. He tried every possible place he could look, including the governmental databases, and found literally nothing. The fact that he did not find so much as an address made him consider the fact that 'Tenoh Haruka_' _was an alias and that he had no idea who the woman who claimed to date his daughter really was. Moreover, he did not know how to find that out. Perhaps a photo or fingerprints? He exhausted his own resources and needed help.

Hideo picked up the landline and dialed a number from his memory. "This is Shimizu Hideo. Is there a time we could talk?"

"_What is this regarding?"_

"It's a personal matter I wish to discuss, preferably not over the phone."

"_Okay. Meet me in my office tomorrow at… four."_

"I appreciate that. I will be there."

"_See you then."_

He replaced the receiver and looked into space once more. The meeting was his last chance, even though the request would be a favor he was not sure he would get.


	29. Ties

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 29**

**Ties**

"Shimizu-san?"

Hideo nodded his head and squared his shoulders.

"You are expected. Please follow me."

He obediently walked behind the elder woman dressed in a dark gray suit that matched her hair. His surroundings were no different from any other time he has been here before, except that he no longer had the veil of business intent to shield him. He felt eyes on himself and wondered if those people knew that he wanted to abuse the system, use it for his own private purpose. Hideo has always prided himself for being a clean politician. It was not a facade for him, he truly did believe that rules were put in place for a reason and fought hard to uphold them. Today he came here to break those rules, to ask for a favor that was against anything in the book, and he did not feel comfortable. He heard whispers and straightened his spine even more, repeating in his mind that they were not talking about him. They did not know what he came here for.

The woman stopped in front of a heavy wooden door and knocked on it confidently.

"Yes?"

She opened it and stepped inside, announcing Hideo's arrival.

"Show him in."

She stepped to the side and gestured for Hideo to come in. He walked past her and the door closed shut behind him. The room was much smaller than his own office, but somehow more intimidating. Perhaps it was because of the awards and certificates that hang on one wall, or maybe because of the presence of the man behind a wide desk. A large bookshelf took up almost the length of the wall to Hideo's left, while the desk and two chairs sat to his right. It was sparse, but somehow did not seem so. There were no files scattered around the floor like in Hideo's office, instead, there were neat, albeit towering, piles on the side of the desk. Even that showed Hideo how in control the man behind the desk was. He commanded everyone and everything in his life, or at least that was what Hideo learned through personal experience and more extensive opinions of his acquaintances.

"Please take a seat, Shimizu-san."

The man gestured to the chairs that sat across the table from him with his head and Hideo did not question the formality that was given as an order.

"So, what is it that you wanted to discuss?"

The man leaned in his leather office chair and folded his hands across the chest, eying his visitor without any expression. Hideo sat deeper in his chair as well. Having been in politics for as long as he has, he could not show a slightest sign of intimidation or he would lose.

"I came to ask for a personal favor." His revelation caused no reaction, unlike what Hideo was hoping for, so after a couple of uncomfortable minutes he continued. "My daughter has convinced herself that she is quite smitten by her current romantic involvement, but the partner of her choice causes nothing but suspicions on my part."

Other than a slight rise of a black brow at the beginning of that statement, Hideo once again did not get any reaction. "Naturally, I'm quite worried. I have tried to do some research on my daughter's choice, but could not find anything. Literally."

"Shimizu-san, from my experience, digging into affairs of your family members leads to nothing but sorrow. The best advice I can give you is to leave your daughter and her partner be."

"With all due respect, I did not come here for your advice, I came here for a favor. My daughter is the sole heir to her family line, social status and our current estate. I cannot have someone simply take advantage of her."

"If you were unable to find anything out, that is generally a good thing, no?"

"I found absolutely nothing, I mean not an address, not a driver's license, not a birth certificate… Which leads me to believe that my daughter's partner is using an alias."

"So you came here to ask me to do what exactly?"

Hideo shifted uncomfortably. The man knew exactly what he came there for, yet still did not miss an opportunity to exercise his power.

"I was hoping that you could look into that person from a perspective that I cannot. A photo or fingerprints, perhaps, so that I can identify them and put my heart to rest."

"Shimizu-san, no disrespect, but I can care less about your heart. You are asking me to put aside the law and forget everything this institution stands for. Moreover, you yourself have been on a spree to rid this city of corruption and make it as safe for its residents as is possible. Do you mean to tell me that those laws and your own cause are nothing when it comes to you and your personal interests?"

The black eyes bore into his scull and Hideo suddenly found the pattern on the floor extremely interesting. Everything that the man just said was right, but he still could not simply let it be. "It's my daughter. I came to you because I know that you're not the kind to be influenced by something that is not done by the book once, you will not turn corrupt because of a personal favor." His voice was barely audible.

"Shimizu-san, a favored request leads to another, then to another, becoming a cycle. There is no stopping it once the faucet is open. I am sorry, I understand your position and your worry as a father, but you cannot bend the system to fit your needs and then unbend it the next day and prosecute those who do the same thing as what you did today. For your sake, I will pretend that this conversation never took place. You are welcome to ignore my advice, but it is given to you by someone who has been in the position of curiosity and has uncovered a wasp nest. Do not lose yourself in your assumptions or skewed perceptions. Your daughter is an adult, let her handle it. Let her come to you if she needs help, she'll appreciate it that much more."

As the room was once again consumed by silence, Hideo had no other choice but to get up. "I'm sorry for taking the time out of your busy schedule and I apologize for my inappropriate request. Thank you for your advice, Superintendent General."

"You are welcome."

Hideo bowed and walked out of the office, the man's words playing in his head over and over. Maybe it would be better to leave this alone. If Michiru got burned, she would come running back and he would finally get the recognition as a caring father, not just as her mother's husband. Hideo made his way out of the police department and headed home.

**x x x  
**

"Egocentric mother fucker."

Daiki pulled his chair back to the desk and set his elbows on top of it, supporting his chin. He knew Hideo would get interested in Haruka at one point or the other, but he never expected for the man to come looking for help from him. That was just too good to be true. It took all of Daiki's poise not to laugh in his visitor's face as he lectured him on the evil of not abiding the law. The advice that he gave him, though, was heartfelt. Daiki's family secrets would have been much better left alone all that time ago, perhaps then he would not have ended up in the police academy and would not have become the twisted son of a bitch that he was now. At least that was his take on it.

He picked up his disposable cell phone and dialed Haruka's number. She has not returned the calls she missed or the voice messages he left for her since Sunday. Just like the previous times, she did not pick up. He sighed and set the phone on his desk. He was almost positive that she was at the hospital, but he could not risk going there, not after Hideo's visit, lest they would run into each other there. That would be simply unwise.

"Oh, fuck it."

He picked up the landline and dialed her direct cell. After three long rings an agitated voice hardly above a whisper came on the line.

"_What is it?"_

"Glad to know you're still alive."

"_Somebody would let you know if I was dead, you're fucking head of the police."_

"Aren't you in a peachy mood."

"_What do you want?"_

"We need to talk. Meet me at my place in an hour, it's closer to the hospital."

"_How considerate."_

"It's in your interests to be there, kid."

"_Fine."_

She hang up and he shook his head, replacing the receiver. "Ungrateful brat."

**x x x  
**

"Where are you going? You said that you won't leave me again." Michiru whined from the bed. True to her word up to this point, Haruka has not left Michiru's side in the past few days.

"Well, I need a break from your mood swings."

"You're the one with the mood swings, not me."

"Really? Am I the one crying now, laughing in an hour, and screaming in another fifteen minutes? You're like a fucking roller coaster of emotions right now."

"Well, I'm sorry that I fell in love with someone who had a psycho ex-girlfriend who decided to beat the shit out of me." Michiru wiped her tears away and stared angrily at her girlfriend.

"See what I mean? Crying, then yelling."

"Screw you, you don't have to come back at all." She hissed and pulled the sheet over her head.

Haruka dipped her head backwards and stared at the ceiling in frustration. She counted until fifty in her head and let out a slow breath. Sure that she would not snap, she approached the bed and pulled the sheet off of Michiru's head. She used her thumb and index finger to take Michiru's chin and gently turn her face.

"I need to meet with Daiki. I will be back, try to sleep while I'm gone." She placed a soft kiss on Michiru's lips and the violinist responded after a few seconds of initial resistance. "Do you want me to bring you something?"

Michiru shook her head and relaxed into the pillow. "I'll be fine. Go."

"Okay." She placed a kiss on the smaller woman's forehead and walked out of the room before Michiru changed her mind again. _'I must be either insane or saint for being here.' _She shook her head and took the elevator down.

**x x x  
**

She was sitting on the floor next to his door when Daiki got to the apartment.

"What, you decided not to break in this time?" He put the bags he was holding down and fetched his keys to unlock the door.

"Too much work." She knew he installed additional locks since she visited him last.

He opened the door and she got inside. Daiki picked up the bags and followed her in. He walked to the kitchen counter and placed the bags on top. Taking the containers out, he watched her sit on the couch and close her eyes. She looked exhausted and somehow thinner.

She opened her eyes at the soft sound of plastic hitting the wood and saw a container being placed in front of her.

"Chicken salad." He answered her questioning look. "Although now that I see you, you need way more food than just a salad."

"What are you, my mother all of a sudden?"

He did not respond, instead taking a seat on the floor across from her. "Would you like something to drink?"

She shook her head and dug into the salad. It was her favorite and he knew it. "What's the occasion?"

"You're still alive, for now. I'd like to spend some family time before that changes."

"Asshole."

"Stupid, irresponsible halfwit." She just shrugged. "What did you get yourself into?"

"Actually…" She spoke with her mouth full and pointed chopsticks at him. "...you're the one who got me into this. It's all because you had to use Ichiro and didn't have enough balls to say no to his request."

"Not all of us can just flaunt our hips in front of him and get what we want."

"Hmph… I doubt hip action alone would ever get anything out of him. He's not a sex addict, unlike you..."

"Look who's talking." He chewed on his skirt steak and studied her more relaxed features. "So how did you do it?"

"How did I do what?" She played with a grape tomato in her container.

"How did you get his okay?"

"I have my ways." She caught him raising an eyebrow and continued. "Which do not include any exchange of bodily fluids."

"Naturally you will not share them with me."

"Naturally."

They ate in silence until Haruka finished and relaxed into the back of the couch. She felt Daiki's eyes on her face, but did not question it or react to it at all. She pulled a small card out of her jeans' pocket and sat up straight. The card was carelessly thrown to the table and ended up in its middle. Daiki turned it so that he could take a better look. There was nothing but a string of numbers on it.

"What's this?"

"It's a bank account number." Their eyes connected and locked. "You'll find your money there."

"All of it?" She nodded. "Which bank?"

"The one you used in Switzerland before."

"Why?"

"Because I need you to do something."

Daiki chuckled. It was a second time today someone needed him to do something for them, only the first request did not have a seven-digit reward for it. "What is it?"

"This set of digits is also a phone number. If something ever happens to me, the first thing I need you to do is dial that number and tell the person who answers that the wind has died down."

"I thought you said you were on top of things."

"I am on top of things, which is why I need you to promise me to do as I asked."

"Haru -"

She raised a hand to stop him. "I'm very well aware that the psycho bitch isn't going to just sit still. I'm pretty sure that the measures I've taken so far will protect me, but one can never be too careful. I need you to promise me that you'll do as I asked."

Daiki did not like that request one bit. Sure it was a simple thing to do, it was the meaning behind the request that made his stomach churn. "I will do as you asked."

"Thank you." She returned to her previous position and closed her eyes again.

"Are you able to sleep?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You killed three people."

"They weren't people. They were puppets that Yasu used to harm others. I don't have moral issues in respect to what I did."

He gave her an unconvinced look that she missed entirely. "Then what's bothering you?"

Haruka let out a long sigh, but did not open her eyes. "They put Michiru on heroin for the pain. She's off it now, but they're afraid to give her anything that has opioids in it, and regular pain killers aren't strong enough. Plus she has the withdrawal syndrome again. I feel like I just went back half a year and ended up in the same hell as before."

She opened her eyes and saw his sorrowful expression. Somehow she knew he was not thinking about her and Michiru. "I spoke to Sayuri." She said gently and he flinched.

"When?"

"On Sunday. She called to tell me that my girlfriend is back on heroin."

"That's quite in her character." He smiled wistfully. "How did she know?" Haruka shrugged. "Where is she?" He held his breath, watching her simply look at him.

"She has to be the one to tell you that, it's not my place."

He nodded. "How much does she know?"

"I have no idea, but enough to know that it's safe for her to come back. She's just not ready to change her life again."

"Well, I'm glad she's safe and happy." He got up, gathered the empty containers and took them to the kitchen. For someone who really was used to being in control, if not in charge, his relationship with Sayuri has always been something out of character. He never controlled her, he never even controlled their arrangement. In many respects she was the one who made the decisions. Perhaps that was why he fell in love with her.

"Why did you call me here?"

He found her standing by the window as he came back. "I had a visitor earlier today who wanted to find a way to investigate a certain someone who is dating his daughter."

Haruka turned around and stared at him in disbelief. "He came to you?" Daiki nodded and they both broke into fits of laughter. "Wow. He really is clueless of the nature of people around him."

"That may be so, but you still need to be careful. Healthy curiosity often leads to disasters."

"You know he won't find anything."

"Actually, that's what brought him to me. He found nothing and got suspicious."

"It's not my fault that my existence in this world is undocumented. Talk to the orphanage." Her eyes glazed over as she remembered carrying the photograph that had her name written on it for so many years. Legally, she got a different name every time she got adopted, so even she did not know who she was anymore. To her, all those adoptive names were aliases. Her true name was given to her by her parents and it was the only one she considered valid, even if it was never recorded.

"Haruka…"

"Hmm?" She came back to reality.

"Just be careful."

"I will. Hideo is at the bottom of my list of people to worry about, though."

"Don't underestimate him."

"I won't. Thanks for letting me know."

"Any time." He watched her walk to the door. "Let me know if you need anything."

She nodded, but he knew that she would not. Even though she needed someone to talk to, she would never admit to it.

**x x x  
**

Michiru was drifting in and out of sleep ever since Haruka left. She had no doubt that the blonde would return, she just did not want to be alone again. She heard the door slide open and turned around, happy that the wait was over. A familiar, yet not particularly welcome figure stood in the room instead of her girlfriend.

"Good Evening, Michiru."

"What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd just stop by and see how you're doing." He walked up and took a seat in the chair next to her bed. "So, how are you doing?"

"How do you think I'm doing?" She raised her broken hand.

"Yes, I heard about that. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"No, actually, I was being sincere."

"Why?"

"Well, being sincere is something I like to do occasionally to remind myself why I am emotionally detached."

"I meant why do you want to help me?"

"Do I need to have a reason?"

"Are you capable of doing anything without a reason?"

"Touché." He gave her a penetrating look that made her shiver. "I can see why Haruka likes you as much as she does."

"Enlighten me."

"You have no fear." He thought about it for another second. "You have guts or you just don't care what happens, but I'm assuming it's the first."

"Do people fear Haruka?"

"Those who know her well enough should, but then again, those who do are not the kind to get scared. Like you and I. Daiki. Hiro, perhaps. Although I think his is more of a victim to his hero attachment. He has seen her soft side and thinks that the tough side is just a front."

"And it's not?"

"No, tough side is what kept her alive. Soft side is something she just hides behind the armor, it's an accessory of her personality."

"I disagree."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really, how so?"

"I think she is a good-natured person who has seen a lot, so she has to come across as a tough person in order to keep that humanity intact, protect it from the outside world. She's not evil like you and Daiki."

He laughed out loud. "You're right, she's not evil like me and Daiki. On the other hand, we are more open about being bastards, she just harbors the sick side inside. Everything you said applies to Haruka you know, but how much do you know her street alter ego?"

"The leather-wearing alter ego?"

Both of Ichiro's eyebrows went up to his forehead. "So you _are_ acquainted with Haru."

"Don't misunderstand me. We all have more than one side to our character. I have a social side that is what the society in general sees me as and then I have the real me. Same with Haruka. She has the tough side, and then she has the real one."

Ichiro nodded. "I don't have sides. I don't hide who I am, that's what I meant about being more open, but I agree that most people have different sides to their personalities. Just don't make the mistake as to which one is the reality and which one is a mask."

"Why are you here?" Michiru was getting tired of this senseless argument because nothing Ichiro said would make her believe that Haruka was bad. What was the point anyway?

"I want to make sure that you are worthy of the relationship you're in."

"Excuse me?" She sat up in her bed, ignoring the pain that shot through her insides.

"Haruka cares for you very much and I know that you do as well. I just want to make sure that you're not living in a dream land. I want to make sure that you're not disillusioned by who Haru really is down the line."

"I know who my girlfriend is! I know how she can be. Hell, she held a gun to my temple, she treated me like scum when I needed help. I know how brutal and cruel she can be, but I also know that it's just a part of her, it doesn't define who she is. I have seen her care for others, much more so than she would ever admit, even to herself. Whatever her life experiences have made her is a part of who she is, but it's the whole that defines her and everything you have said is just a small part. How the hell would you know who she is in the first place?"

"Because I'm her only friend." It was a simple, soft-spoken answer that seemed to cool down the raging violinist.

"If that's the case, how come she never once mentioned you outside of racing in the year I have known her?"

"We all make mistakes." He shrugged.

"I don't believe you. I don't know why you're here, other than to try and convince me that Haruka is bad. No friend would do that."

"That's not what I'm trying to do. As I said before, I just want to make sure you're not wearing pink glasses."

"Pink glasses wouldn't suit Michiru in the least. It's really not her color."

They both turned, startled, to find Haruka leaning against the pane of the door, her arms folded across her chest.

"How long have you been standing there?" Ichiro raised a brow.

"Long enough. Stop intimidating my girlfriend, I don't have enough energy to deal with the aftermath."

Michiru watched the two of them interact and realized that it was like nothing she has seen before. There was no animosity. They did banter like friends would. She was utterly confused.

"He's right, mermaid." Haruka grabbed the second chair and put it between the bed and where Ichiro was sitting. "He's also good-intentioned, unlike what it comes across as. He just doesn't know how to be nice to people." She ignored his scowl and continued. "You and I, we're both two-faced. We act one way, but we're different on the inside. The difference is, we both know who you truly are, which is a lot harder with me. I gave up on trying to figure out what is act and what is real a long time ago. I just do what seems right at the time. So long as you're aware of that, we'll be okay."

"I am aware of that." Michiru pointed to the newspaper that was still sitting on the bottom shelf of her night stand.

"Good." Haruka turned to Ichiro. "Now, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I missed you, can't you tell?"

She gave him an unimpressed look and he sighed. "I need a smoke. Come with me." He stood up and waited for her to do the same.

"You know I don't like when you smoke around me. Sit back down and say what you were gonna say, unless it relates to you, which it doesn't."

He stood for another moment before slowly lowering himself back. "I ran across your cous a few days ago. He was very worried, even offered me his services in return for your safety."

Haruka did not bother to hide her surprise. "How sweet of him. Of course you have accepted, despite knowing that he didn't need to put himself in that position."

Ichiro smiled. "Why waste an opportunity?"

"That comes dangerously close to using me." Haruka shook her head and Ichiro's smile faded away.

"I didn't think about it that way."

"Whatever. He offered, you accepted, what's the point?"

"You should give him another chance. He does care about you."

Haruka stared at him again. "That's what you came here for? Is my mush infectious? Cuz you're acting out of character."

Ichiro shrugged. "I just put myself in his position… both him and I know how hopeless it is to be on your bad side."

Haruka waved her hand to show the furtherance of her point. "You put yourself in his position?"

Ichiro grimaced. "You're right that is out of character."

"Thank you." She relaxed into the chair, satisfied. "Don't worry about him, we made up."

That surprised both Ichiro and Michiru. "Why?" The violinist asked.

Haruka shrugged. "I got tired of the current arrangements, so I got rid of them. We're fine now. I can take solace in the knowledge that he's suffering because Sayuri is not around."

"They're still together?" It was Ichiro's time to stare.

"Were together. Until the whole Oono deal." Haruka explained.

"Let me guess, you took matters into your own hands and she just disappeared from his horizon."

"Yep."

"See what I mean?" Ichiro looked at the violinist.

"She did that to protect Sayuri. It was well intentioned and came from the good place in her heart, not the bad one."

"That's how you see it."

"How do you see it?" Michiru asked stubbornly.

"She helped out someone on one hand and made someone else suffer on the other. She's never been a fan of their arrangement, so she finally got them apart."

"Must you twist everything?" Haruka grimaced.

"You yourself just said that you are enjoying the fact that he's suffering because of her absence."

"Yeah, but I didn't actually mean it."

"Really? You're not glad that he's suffering? Not even an iota?"

"Fine, I am happy that he's suffering! But it's because that proves that he does care for her, more than just a sleeping buddy. Besides, it's not like I'm keeping them apart. It's up to her, not me."

"See." Michiru pointed out, satisfied with the explanation.

"Whatever floats your boat." Ichiro gave up. "If you didn't enjoy others suffering, you would've killed Yasu."

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became grim. "That's different."

"Only to the extent of how far you went, not the underlying concept."

Haruka could not find anything to answer to that, neither could Michiru. Ichiro, who did not gloat from his victory either, got up and bowed to the violinist. He put his hand on Haruka's shoulder and grabbed her attention, bringing her back to reality.

"Get some rest, you look like shit." He looked around. "You want a different room? This can't be comfortable for you to spend the nights."

"You think I wouldn't be able to get a different room if I wanted to?"

"No offense, but you don't have the recognition I get, so you don't get the same perks."

"None taken. God forbid I ever get recognition similar to yours. I prefer to speak with people as opposed to scare them before even opening my mouth to get my way."

"Hey, I offered."

"Thanks, but I'm hoping we won't be here for much longer."

"You should get Abe to come back and take care of your girlfriend at home. Kill two birds with one stone."

"My, you do have reasonable thoughts once in a while." Michiru mused from the bed.

Ichiro sighed and looked into the dark blue eyes. "Can you explain to your girlfriend that people don't talk to me that way, unless I allow them to and she doesn't have the same privileges as you do?"

Haruka shrugged. "I'm enjoying it too much to do that."

"See - torturer." He ruffled her hair and walked to the door. "I'll see you Friday."

"Night." Both Haruka and Michiru wished him in unison.

"I'm guessing you got him back?" Michiru asked as Ichiro's figure retreated away from the room.

"Hmm?"

"You said that Yasu took him away from you. I'm guessing you got him back."

"Yeah… lots of things have happened because of that." She pointed at Michiru and got up. Haruka took off her shoes and climbed in the small bed behind its current occupant.

"Haruka, it's too small for both of us."

"I know, just for a few minutes." She positioned herself half-sitting behind Michiru, who relaxed herself into the embrace and found the new arrangement not at all uncomfortable. She sighed contently and kissed the arm that was wrapped around her shoulder. Dipping her head back to face the blonde, she found her peacefully asleep.

**x x x  
**

Large drops of rain hit the pane of the glass in a steady rhythm. The black night sky has been crying for hours, shedding the tears she herself was unable to. No matter how torn inside, how alone in the world, how much in physical pain she was, she could never cry. Not for herself. For others, to pretend that she could feel, to make them sway in the direction she wanted them to take - yes, but not to relieve any of those emotions that she still harbored occasionally. Tears did not help, only revenge did. It has been over a week since her assault and her foot was still not showing any good progress. They did not amputate it only because Ichiro got her the best plastic surgeon, but even he could only work with what was left, making it resemble a foot, but not making it serve as one. Yasu detested the idea of getting a prosthetic or using a wheelchair, but it looked more and more like those would be her only options.

She turned away from the widow and looked at the semi-dark ceiling. She has been here before. Not in this particular hospital, but in this situation. Left all alone, helpless, weak, and in a hospital room. It was three years ago when she lay like that in a small room on another side of the world, right after giving birth and learning that she would never be able to have another child due to complications. Despite the fact that she just brought a new life into the world, she felt all alone because there was no one by her side. Her parents were dead, not that she wanted them to be there; her brother got rid of her by shipping her off; the father of her child… was unknown to her until she saw her son. In the coming days when she got to hold the child that was a part of her, the child that seemed to unconditionally love her, probably because he did not know who she was, she felt something stirring inside. The infant clang to her, just like any newborn would to a mother, with all the instinct, all the pure love. Love that grew into hate in Yasu towards her own mother. Love - the feeling that Yasu was no longer capable to give to another human being. She decided then that that child deserved the best she could give. The best she could give was eliminate her own presence from that child's life until he was old enough to step into his inheritance. Inheritance that she would give him by getting rid of her brother, the man who so easily discharged her when she needed his support the most. Yasu swore on the day her son turned a week old that he would become her heir, the sole heir to the Wada clan, and no one was going to get in her way.

She picked up her cell phone and dialed a number for the person she has not spoken to in two years. Despite that, she has never lost sight of him and knew where he was, who he was with, and how to contact him. She also saw him in the open, never once indicating to anyone the past they both shared.

"_Moshi Moshi."_

"It's me."

"…"

"Yasu."

"_Do you honestly think I can forget your voice in the week and a half that I haven't heard it?"_

"…"

"_Hmph. To what do I owe the pleasure of you speaking to me again?"_

"I… I -" She tried to stifle a sob and it came out half-broken.

"_Yasu, is this about your injury?"_

"N-no."

"_Then what is it? Why are you crying?"_

"It… it's about our son."

"_What about him?"_

She did not miss the change in his tone. From indifferent and albeit sarcastic it turned into concerned. Even though both parents were absent from her son's life and neither of them spoke to each other, they both have communicated with the adoptive family because to both of them he was of a particular importance, albeit for different reasons. His father had much purer motives than his mother. It was his first and only son, though he did not acknowledge him at this point per Yasu's request, he did intend to become a part of his life when the time came.

"I'm afraid he may be in danger." She let out another sob.

"_What kind of danger?"_

"I'm not sure… I… I just want you to contact them and arrange for him to move. I don't want to put him in any more danger by contacting them directly."

"_Does the incident that happened last week have anything to do with this?"_

She cried openly for a couple of minutes and he let her, not interrupting and waiting for her to speak again. "Don't worry about what happened to me… It's just that she threatened him and I can't let anything happen. Please make sure he's safe. Please… I will take care of my problems myself, I am at fault for getting in this situation in a first place, but please, I beg of you, help our son." Her cries broke free again, but his low voice interrupted her this time.

"_Who's 'she'?"_

"It doesn't matter. Just make sure he's safe."

"_Let me decide whether that matters or not. Who is it, Yasu?"_

"I -"

"_Yasu!"_

"It's Tenoh."

"…"

"Please… don't do anything rash, just make sure they move and are not followed."

"_Come on, Yasu, you know I never rush anything. Planning things is my specialty."_

"Aden, please, forget about Haruka, just tell the adoptive family -"

"_No. If she knows about the adoptive family, she'll always find them. I will make arrangements for him to be brought to Spain. My parents will take care of him."_

She did not see that solution coming, nor was she sure she liked it. However, that was not the top priority at the moment. "Are you sure that is wise?"

"_He'll be safe in the countryside and it will do him good to be with family. As a matter of fact, I'll bring him over myself, just to make sure that we are not followed and that there are no tracks left."_

"Good. Being away from here will assure that you don't do anything stupid."

"_Such as?"_

"No, nothing."

"_Your nature and upbringing may have made you feel okay about threats, Yasu, but no one threatens my child."_

"Aden -"

"_I will contact you at this number when I'm back in Japan. Fast recovery."_

She pressed the disconnect button and threw the phone on the night stand. The tears that still ran down her cheeks, just like the drops of rain on the outside, looked out of place with the wide smile that spread across her face. "Ladies first, Haruka. Then your prince in shining armor will follow. No one gets in my way."


	30. Breaking the Cycle

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 30**

**Breaking the Cycle**

Much to everyone's relief, Michiru was discharged from the hospital after another week and a half. Her almost month-long stay in the 'torture-chamber' as she referred back to the hospital room was over, but the life she was expecting to return to was nowhere near what it used to be. It all began when she stepped inside the home she has been living in for quite a long while and found her violin case in the corner of the living room. She ran to it and to her horror found the violin that was shattered inside. As large tears ran down her face, she hugged the largest piece tightly to herself.

"I'm sorry… Jun picked it up after you were taken to the hospital and I inquired into fixing it, but it's impossible… I'm very sorry… we'll get you a new one."

Michiru shook her head violently, sobbing from the depths of her broken heart. "T-this one is sp-special. My fa-father gave it to me b-before he died."

Haruka knew this before, Eiko mentioned it, but she did not put two and two together until that very moment. The knowledge boosted Haruka's regret of not killing Yasu and simultaneously made her own heart ache for the woman she was now holding in her arms. She imagined it was similar to someone stealing her precious photograph and ripping it apart. "I'm so sorry, mermaid." They both sat on the floor, Haruka gently rocking Michiru, until Michiru ran out of her tears.

In the next week Haruka tried to convince Michiru to get a new violin, but with her hand barely functional and her beloved violin broken, Michiru declared that she would never play again. Both Haruka and Eiko took that declaration to heart, both scared of what Michiru would be without her means of expression. Michiru was still drawing and it pleased Haruka that there was at least something the smaller woman could occupy herself with. Haruka, on the other hand, had no free time whatsoever. Between putting together the shop that Hiro somehow managed to half-run down in her absence, planning out something fresh for the Club where the ratings have been down for weeks, and being as much as she could with her still recovering girlfriend, she felt like she had no time to breathe. She did, however, find time to sit on the side of the hill and talk. Even though Ichiro was the one who requested that they return to their weekly sessions originally, she was the one who needed to vent now, for the first time finding that there were things she could not share with Michiru.

It was during one of those conversations that she mentioned the broken violin to her confidant, spilling her concerns about how deeply that hurt her girlfriend, much more so than the assault itself. Ichiro did not say much in response, but did ask if it would be okay for him to come for a dinner the next day, claiming that he wanted to see how the lights looked from her house. Haruka did not see a reason to deny his request, and so the meeting was set.

"So you invite someone for dinner and then you get takeout?" Michiru mused as she looked through the numerous boxes Haruka placed on the kitchen counter.

"He invited himself over, why do I have to cook for him?"

"You dressed up for him… or dressed down." Michiru gave a pointed look at Haruka's yoga pants and her tank top.

"That's what I always wear at home."

"You change if you're expecting someone, like that time with my mother."

"Don't make a deal out of nothing." Haruka grabbed a few boxes and took them to the table.

"I'm just saying." Michiru followed her with some more.

"Why, are you jealous?" Michiru started laughing and Haruka stopped doing what she was doing and stared at her, pouting. "What's so funny?"

"Why would I ever be jealous of Ichiro? If he was a woman, maybe, but him? Seriously?"

Haruka placed her hands on her hips and adopted a military pose. "If you must know, I did offer him to have sex just a few weeks ago."

Instead of making Michiru stop and get concerned, the declaration only made her double up with laughter. Haruka watched the smaller woman for another minute, waved her hands in frustration and walked back to the kitchen. The knock on the door prevented her from making another trip with food and she made her way to greet her guest instead. Ichiro walked in, carrying a large box behind himself, and looked at the source of hysterical laughter.

"What's going on?"

Michiru turned to face them, trying to pull herself together, but seeing them standing next to each other made her laugh again. "Th-this is too good. Sh-she said…" She pointed at Haruka. "...that she offered to have sex with you."

Ichiro looked at the raging blonde standing next to him and smiled, wrapping his hand around her shoulders and bringing her close. "She did… it was the best sex I've ever had."

That statement caught Michiru's laughter right off. "What?"

This time both Haruka and Ichiro could not contain themselves. "Your face was priceless! For a second there you actually bought it."

Michiru's cheeks turned pink and she walked back to the kitchen area, pointedly ignoring the two still chuckling friends. Haruka sighed and looked at the box. "What's that?"

"Later, give me a tour and let's have dinner first."

"Okay." She gestured for him to follow her and he did. The tour took no more than two minutes and soon enough Ichiro was standing in front of the glass wall while Haruka helped Michiru finish setting up the table.

"This is breathtaking. No surprise that you didn't need me… this view must distress you every day."

"To a point." She walked up and put a hand on his shoulder. "But it doesn't speak… and sometimes I need to drown in your problems to forget my own." She grabbed the material under her hand and dragged him towards the table. "Come on, the sushi is getting cold."

"Ha ha."

Not surprisingly, the three of them had quite an enjoyable dinner, sharing light stories from the past. Michiru found herself liking Ichiro by the time the last piece of sushi disappeared. Whoever he was on a daily basis, whatever life he led, none of that was reflected in the man that sat at the table that night. He was a very different person from the one she has seen and heard of before, despite his claims at having only one face. Just like with Daiki and Haruka, Michiru knew that that side of him was reserved to very few and she felt a flutter at the knowledge that she was one of them.

"I have something I want to give you." Ichiro got up and walked to the box that he left by the door earlier. He picked it up and carefully brought it over to the table, laying it on the floor next to Michiru. "Haruka and I… we're friends because we understand each other, which is rare for someone like us. Because we're friends, we share, so don't be upset with her."

"Why would I be upset with her?"

"Because she shared with me the emotional impact of my sister's actions." He saw Michiru flinch and avert her eyes. "I'm sorry for what happened… not because it was Yasu who did it, but because I understand how you must feel. As a token, I would like you to have that." He pointed at the box. "Please open it."

Michiru fought the oncoming tears, replaying his words in her head. When she was sure that she could look back up, she did so and carefully pulled on the tape that held the two flaps together. In the box, by itself, as though it was a simple trinket, lay a Stradivarius violin. Michiru's shaking fingers touched its surface and the tears she was fighting just a moment ago spilled over her cheeks. The violin her father gave her was nothing but a regular instrument bought at a music store. She had many opportunities since then to get a better one, but hers held a special value. However, even if Michiru did decide to change her instrument one day, even she would not be able to get something as exquisite and rare as the violin that lay in the cardboard box.

"I… I can't accept this."

"I can't accept you not accepting it. It belonged to my great grandmother and ever since she passed away, which was long before my time, it sat in our library. It became a sort of a family heirloom that passed from mother to daughter, not that anyone since my great grandmother played it. This is Yasu's violin. She took yours and I would like you to have hers."

"I thought she was more into swords." Haruka put in from the other side of the table.

"She is… She has never even acknowledged the fact that she owns it, but you know her… she only cries when the toy is taken away. Michiru, it's not the owner of the instrument that matters, it's the instrument itself. I would like you to have it because you would bring it back to life. Both you and the violin deserve it."

"I- I can't play." She looked at her left hand, the fingers of which she could still only barely move.

"Maybe not today, but one day I'd like to hear you play this instrument."

Her water-filled ocean blue eyes found his black ones and she bit her lip. No matter what argument she made, she already owned that violin the minute Ichiro decided on it, and there was no point to resist. Besides, it did take her breath away. "Thank you." Michiru bowed to the man sitting across the table from her.

"You're welcome." He smiled and felt Haruka squeeze the fabric of his pants underneath the table. He patted her hand in acknowledgment of her gratitude.

**x x x  
**

"Shimizu-san, what a pleasure to finally meet you in person!" An average-looking brunette man bowed to Hideo as the latter walked into a small stuffy office.

"Likewise." The man gestured for Hideo to sit down and he accepted the silent invitation. "Do you have something for me?"

The man took a seat and clapped his hands together. "Well, as you know, I trailed your daughter when she was released from the hospital, which led me to where she is staying. I ran the license plates of the car that her girlfriend is driving and it is registered to one Takeushi Hayate. Similarly, the house is registered in the same name. Takeushi-san is a 30-year-old male, whose picture drastically resembles Tenoh Haruka. However, Tenoh Haruka's name does not appear as any kind of reference."

Hideo stared into space thoughtfully. "So she's playing dress up. There is no information on relatives?"

"No."

"Any financials? Work history?"

"No."

"What does she drive?"

"Tenoh-san?"

Hideo looked at the man in annoyance. "I'm presuming we are talking about the same person. So yes, Tenoh, Takeushi, or whatever else she disguises herself as."

"An Enzo Ferrari."

Hideo was still looking into space when it finally hit him. "What color?"

"Dark gray. Why?"

"There was a road rage that caused accident in Osaka earlier this year that involved a gray Ferrari, the driver of which was never caught. See how much you can find out about that."

"You think it's her?"

Hideo looked at the private investigator he hired a few weeks back after Daiki was unwilling to help. "How many Enzo Ferraris do you think there are in Japan?"

The detective shrugged. "Wadas drive those, but I don't think they're gray."

"Go to Osaka tomorrow and find out as much as you can."

"Alright." He looked at the man who was still deeply in thought. "Is there anything else?"

Hideo had this nagging feeling that he was overlooking something, it was almost at the edge of his grasp, but he could not figure out what it was. "That's it for now."

**x x x  
**

"_Haruka, this is Hanz. The weather is rather gloomy and the birds seem to be migrating to the South-West. I'm going on a bird-watching trip and hope to take lots of beautiful pictures. My connection may not be perfect, but do give me a buzz."_

Haruka finished listening to the voice message and erased it. Just like she thought, Yasu did not take her threat lightly. She dialed Hanz's number and hoped that she could reach him.

"_¡Digame!"_

"I take it you're in Spain."

"_Haruka! I wonder what gave it away."_

"Your heavy German accent."

"_Says you?"_

"Do your high spirits have to do with locating the little bird that left the nest prematurely?"

"_Indeed! If you called me just a few hours earlier, I would have been quite depressed."_

"So, what's going on?"

"_Well, two weeks ago the boy just disappeared. I came to visit with a delivery, like I always do, and he was no longer there. I was truly surprised because the host family was still there and we always expected for them to move with him. Instead, apparently his father took him."_

"Interesting." Haruka indeed did not expect that. Yasu crawling back to use someone she had no contact with and had no interest in? She must have been really desperate. Upon another consideration, Haruka figured that without Ichiro's support, there were too few people that would help Yasu with anything, so it was only natural that she would reach out to him, provided that they were on good terms. "So, do we know who the father is?"

"_No, sorry, but I didn't get that far. I was trying to get on their tracks for the past two weeks and only caught a break today. They are in Spain, the boy is staying at a vineyard, I'm guessing with another host family. The father is gone again, I never even got a chance to take a look at him."_

"That's no problem. Let me know when you settle down and find out about the host family. Keep a good eye on the kid and send the bill for your traveling expenses to the accountant in Nice."

"_Certainly. I'll let you know as soon as I get anything."_

"Good. Thanks."

"_Chau."_

"Chau."

**x x x**

"To what do I owe the pleasure of you sitting on my doorstep again?" Daiki opened the door while Haruka scrambled to her feet.

"Can't I just be here to see you and nothing more?"

Daiki looked at her skeptically. "Not a chance."

"Fine." Haruka walked inside and took a seat on the sofa.

"Sure, make yourself comfortable." He walked to the kitchen and opened his fridge, which contained nothing but beer. Daiki grabbed two cans and threw one to Haruka, which she caught and grimaced, expecting the liquid to spill all over her light blue jeans once she opened the can. "You could have at least brought something to eat."

"I have a date later." She cautiously opened the can and surely enough the liquid oozed out on the table.

Daiki threw her a towel, which she used to wipe the mess. "How does that help me? Or did you come here to invite me?"

"When did that ever happen?" Her blue eyes searched his face before returning to the now light brown towel.

"You're right. Why would my only sane surviving relative ever invite me out?"

"Exactly."

Daiki sat next to her and rotated his torso to face her. "So why are you here?"

"I need you to put a tap on Yasu's cell."

"I can't do that."

"What do you mean you can't do that? Did Schimizu turn you law-abiding?"

"Fuck no. I just can't. She's still officially second down in the Wada clan. You know how many people they have everywhere. I'm not gonna get all that attention to myself."

She sipped on the cold liquid and stared at the black leather surface of the couch in thought. "Mmmkay. How about giving me the record of her calls for the past month? A one-time favor that won't raise any flags. You can say that it's in relation to her assault if anyone asks."

Daiki shrugged. "I have no problem with that. I'll send it to you soon. Now, why do you want it?"

"I can't tell you that."

"You know, you want a lot of things lately without giving any explanation."

"Shouldn't you be used to it by now?"

"Kid, I know you can take care of yourself, but you've stepped on too many heels lately. Let me help you."

Haruka gave him a small smile. "You are helping, Dai."

He shook his head. "Every time I agree to something I feel like I only let you run through another red light, heading straight for a collision."

"We're all heading for a collision at one time or the other. We've known each other for eleven years, and I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but you're stretching yourself thin. Ever since you met that girl."

"Are you going to blame everything on Michiru now?"

"You used to blame a lot of things on my relationship with Sayuri, but I only lost my bearings once. You've been acting on your emotions for almost a year now. I know that you care deeply for her and I know that it's mutual, but if you still want to stay in business, you need to get your shit together. You've placed the whole Club in danger, again."

"With the exception of a week in January and a week and a half that I just spent at the hospital, I have never avoided my duties with the Wings. Yes, that week and a half took a toll on the ratings and participation, but you're not one to talk about the degradation of the Club. You used the Club for your own selfish reasons, don't you ever forget that." She got up and threw the squeezed can into the trash receptacle.

"I know what I did, but that didn't affect the Club. Your actions might."

"You were lucky that it did't affect the Club!" She smashed her fist on top of the kitchen counter, while staring him down with her raging gray eyes. "The only reason it didn't was because I caught it in time, not because you were so smart. If you were smart and careful, I would've never come across it in a first place!"

"What's done is in the past. There's no reason to argue about it now. However, if Schimizu comes close to discovering who you really are, I will cut your wings, Haruka."

"What the fuck?" She made it to the couch in a few large steps and grabbed the fabric of his turtleneck. "Don't forget who did not cut your wings! You have no right or standing to do this to me you piece of shit!"

He placed his hands on top of hers to remind of the strength he possessed. "I will put it to a vote and they'll unanimously get rid of you. If you are found out, the whole operation will go down."

"The whole operation will go down if I'm not running it! Don't forget that I dedicated nine years of my life to the Wing of Night!"

"I know this, Haru. Which is why I'm warning you, not telling you to quit. You have to be careful and if you can't handle it, you have to let us help!"

"Us?"

"Us! Me, other Wings, other people. You never get enough help when you need it. It's not the time to be stubborn. The Club has been under surveillance since last summer, now someone's looking into you! Don't be so god damn stubborn and deal with this shit!"

She let go of the cloth and he let go of her hands. Neither of them paid attention to the fact that her knuckles were white while red spots indicated an imprint of larger hands on Haruka's. "I know how to take care of myself. I know how to take care of the Club. Watch your own back and don't put your nose in my business. I'm doing my job and there's no immediate risk. Relax."

He shook his head. "You're too cocky for your own good."

"I have a reason to be."

"For now."

Haruka grabbed the keys she previously threw on the table and headed for the door. "Send me what I asked you for."

She disappeared behind the door, slamming it in her wake. Daiki got up and kicked the low table with all the rage that was building up inside him to the point, flipping it upside down. No matter what he said, no matter what tone he adopted, he never got through to her, but he had to try. He had a feeling that everything was about to hit the vent. He did not know where it was coming from in particular, it was more of his police-trained intuition that rang the alarm.

Outside of his apartment building, Haruka sat in her car. Her hands were folded on top of the steering wheel and her forehead rested on top. With her eyes closed, she went over everything that they screamed to each other in the past five minutes. She too had an instinct, one that was developed on the streets, one that taught her to always expect a stab in the back. With the way things were going now, she was expecting a full blow directly in her face, not a sneaky attack. There were too many people interested in her. She mentally went over the list in her head once more:

1. Yasu

2. The father of Yasu's kid

3. Unenumerated enemies of the Wings of Night

4. Hideo and his interest in both the Club and her

5. Those who cared for Yasu's men she killed - family and yakuza

6. Osaka's police for the road rage

7. Daiki for everything she's done

8. Ichiro because she still was not sure about the extent of their relationship

Her forehead hit the bone in her arm. Usually she could count her enemies on one hand. That she could handle. Names were routinely added to the list as she got in altercations, but they usually disappeared shortly after. The eight problems on her current list did not seem to be going anywhere any time soon. Granted that the last two were not really enemies per se, they could turn so at any time and Haruka could not be so naive as to dismiss the possibility. She felt like the walls were coming closer, threatening to squeeze her, to not let her breathe. If things became unbearable, she could always leave everything and run. In the end, running was what she did best. Even though she has not run in the past ten years, her life before then consisted of constantly running away and picking herself up from ground zero. Now she was in a much better shape to run and have no worries. However, she has also grown too stubborn to pick running as her immediate reaction. She had to stay for as long as she could.

**x x x**

Michiru was sitting on the floor next to an open violin case, staring at the pieces of her broken instrument. She has been preserving them ever since she came back from the hospital, afraid to look at the shards again. Now, she looked at the pieces as silent tears ran down her cheeks, feeling like she was looking at the pieces of her broken past, her broken family. There was no point in hoping to put them back together, just like there was no point in trying to hold on to something that was long gone. Her father was gone and she was the one who gave so much meaning to the violin he gave her, not him. To her it was symbolic of his love, but now it just seemed silly. If he was still around, he would love her whether she had the violin or not. His death did not change that. Michiru slowly reached for the largest piece and put it in the empty box that was on her other side. The tears dried off while she slowly moved every shard out of the case and into the box. She wiped the case clean and put the Stradivarius inside. Her long fingers touched its surface gingerly, almost more sensually than they touched Haruka's body. It was the most beautiful violin she has ever touched, but she was not ready to make love to it yet. First she had to get her hand back in shape. She tried to flex her left hand and failed miserably. Unlike during her rehabilitation sessions, though, now she was determined to make it work. No matter how long it took, one day she would play this beautiful instrument and she would dedicate her first song to her father. She was sure he would listen, and that set her goal.

Michiru got up and took the box outside, depositing it in the trash receptacle. When she came back, she closed the case and put it away in the closet downstairs. Until she was ready to take it out again. The sound of an engine announced Haruka's arrival and Michiru went upstairs to greet her girlfriend.

"Ready to go?" Haruka played with her car keys.

"Uh huh. Is it okay if I go like this?"

Haruka gave her a once over. Michiru was wearing a pair of tight dark slacks and a light tunic that reached her knees. "You look beautiful." Haruka caught her healthy hand and twirled the violinist in a strong embrace. "As always."

"Where are we going?" Michiru quizzed as she was released from a kiss.

"Just a small place I used to frequent a long time ago."

"Really? Am I about to learn something new about Haruka again?"

"More than you think."

Michiru gave her a quizzical glance, but did not probe further, figuring that she would know everything in due time.

They ate at a small family-owned restaurant where everyone seemed to know the blonde racer. Michiru watched people come up to their table and chat quietly with her girlfriend as they both waited for their ramen to arrive.

"Please enjoy it."

Michiru turned towards the familiar voice. A girl wearing a white apron placed the bowls in front of them. Her long black hair was put in a braid that wrapped around her head. Her outfit was comfortable and hid her figure. The only thing that resembled the girl Michiru knew were the shiny green eyes.

"Chi!"

The girl smiled shyly and bowed to both customers. Haruka placed a hand on MIchiru's thigh, restraining her from any more outward acknowledgment. Michiru bit her tongue and lowered her head. Haruka smiled to Chi and bowed her head slightly.

"What was that all about?" Michiru asked as she took the chopsticks.

"Her family does not know about Chi's night life. To them, she's a demure youngest daughter, polite and a bit shy.

"What a difference." Michiru commented, remembering everything from the drinking to the orgies.

"Well, you're not much different, are you?"

"You're right, it used to be that way." She stifled a sigh. "This is really good."

"Yes, it is." Haruka took another mouthful and then set her bowl aside. "We're moving."

"What?" Michiru chocked on the broth and asked again, lowering her voice. "What? Why?"

"Your stepfather hired someone to follow us."

"How do you know?"

"I know when I'm being followed."

"Is someone watching us now?" Michiru looked around not at all inconspicuously.

"No. Not for a couple of days now, which is why right now is the best time to disappear. When we go back home, I want you to pack a bag of clothes, take your drawing supplies and the violin… s."

"Where are we going to go?"

"My apartment."

"You have an apartment?"

"Yes. No one knows of its location and I hope to keep it that way. I will drop the car off at the shop tomorrow, we'll use my bike for a while."

"Okay." Michiru played with the spinach in her bowl. "Should I be worried?"

"Nope."

"Sounds to me like I should."

The corner of Haruka's mouth rose slightly. "You can worry about the ceiling collapsing on your head, but you won't stop it if it were to happen, so what's the point of living in fear?"

"That's not very optimistic either." Michiru set her chopsticks down and put her hands on her legs, studying her girlfriend.

"It's realistic, mermaid."

"Sometimes I wish you were not as honest as you are."

"Sorry. You can still backpedal if you choose to."

Michiru's eyes widened before narrowing into two slits. "I think we've gone much too far to take anything back or to run away and hide."

"I agree, but I'm still giving you that choice."

"Haruka… no matter what happens, I'm with you."

"That's good to hear." Haruka grabbed her unfinished food and took another stab at it. "Don't worry mermaid, I'm with you as well. I'm not going to leave you behind."

To Michiru's ears that sounded like a confession.

**x x x  
**

Daiki decided not to wait until he went back to the office in the morning and accessed the phone records from his home computer. He printed Yasu's log out and set it on his desk. His fingers tapped impatiently on the surface of the table, but he did not notice the sound they made. After a while, he pulled the drawer open and took a deformed pack of cigarettes out. It has been there ever since he took it the night Haruka paid Yasu a visit. Occasionally, he would look at it and then put it back away. Tonight, he pulled a cigarette out and lit it up. The first inhale made him choke. It was not that he never smoked before, rather, it was the strange taste that he never took to liking. Peach menthol. How could anyone be as obsessed about it as Sayuri was?

By the time the cigarette was reduced to ashes, he was completely enveloped in the familiar smell. It brought him peace. Peace and unbearable longing. He put the butt in the plate he used for the ashes and turned back to the screen. In the next minutes a nationwide search for Abe Sayuri was initiated through every database Daiki had access to. Last time he tried it he got nothing, but that was months ago. This time, he got her name on a police report that was filed by an Emergency Room in connection with a patient treated for a gunshot wound. A small smile lit up his face and he reached for another cigarette.

"Osaka."

**x x x  
**

"So, what did you find?" Hideo eyed the detective sitting next to him in the driver's seat of a car.

"Nothing that required us meeting so late in the evening." The man shrugged.

"Let me decide that."

"Okay." The man took a set of photographs out of the envelope he had in his lap and passed them over to Hideo. They were images of the chase Haruka partook in. "The police initially simply pursued a speeding car, but then it escalated when the driver sped up instead of relenting. According to the report, there were two trucks that tried to block the racer's way, but their attempt ended in a collision and explosion. Three people died and many others suffered an array of injuries. The police was unable to find the driver who disappeared on the streets of Osaka."

"I knew that much from the news." Hideo said in irritation.

"Right. Well, the Ferrari they pursued was registered in Takeushi Hayate's name." Hideo smiled in satisfaction. "Interestingly enough, the police had a run-in with another Ferrari while pursuing the racer. It was white and was driven by a woman, one Tamura Hisako. There was no description."

Hideo stared at the detective. "And they let her go?"

"They had nothing on her. The car was of a different color, with different plates and was driven by a woman, not a man."

"She played them."

"How?"

"I don't know how, but it's obvious she did." Hideo's irritation multiplied. "What did you find out about this Tamura broad?"

"Nothing. Just like with Teakeushi-san. The car is registered in her name and there is an address in Osaka, but otherwise nothing. I checked the address, it's a hotel, so I think it's just another alias."

"Who the hell is that woman?" Hideo stared at the pictures he still held in his hands in complete agitation. The further he investigated, the more convinced he became that Tenoh Haruka was bad news for his daughter, but now it also seemed like she was not simply after Michiru's money or any of the other things Hideo thought of in the beginning. She seemed to have too many aliases, too many leads with no ends. His hand froze as his eyes concentrated on a shot where a police car closed in on the aggressor. It was taken from the side and Hideo could only see the front half of the Ferrari, but the layout reminded him of something he has seen before. His eyes glazed over as the realization that kept hovering finally fully crept into his brain. He has seen that before.

_"The Wing of Night has brought itself to the attention of the police by hosting weekly races. The patrols around the city will be increased on the weekends to ensure public safety and successful capture of those responsible for the illegal activity."_

The Lamborghini and Ferrari. Red and gray. Side shot, the Ferrari gaining speed over its competitor.

"Oh my God! It's her!"

"What?" The detective stared at his client at a loss.

"Tenoh Haruka! She's not dating my daughter for her money or her status. She's dating my daughter to be close to me, to keep an eye on me! She's part of the Wing of Night!"


	31. On the Edge

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 31**

**On the Edge**

It was past midnight when the Enzo pulled into the underground garage and parked across from a black bike. Both Haruka and Michiru got out and the blonde grabbed two bags, while Michiru grabbed her violin case and threw the bag that contained her drawing supplies over the shoulder. They took the elevator up to seventeenth floor and Michiru followed her girlfriend to the apartment at the end of the hall. She watched as Haruka unlocked the door and disabled the alarm, exposing the small apartment to Michiru's full view.

"It's not much, but it's gonna have to make do for a bit."

Michiru walked in and set her bag and the violin down. "It's very different." She took a look around the small apartment, took her shoes off, and inspected it closer.

"Yes, that's the point." Haruka set the bags down and locked the dead bolts. "It was never meant to point to me."

"I see." Michiru was looking at the contents of the first closet. "Will you wear any of this?"

"Maybe." Haruka pulled Michiru's bag closer, so that the younger woman could take her clothes out. "You're certainly welcome to try them on."

"I just might." Michiru moved on to the next closet and her breath caught at a few evening gowns she spotted hanging in there.

Haruka let the violinist play with the garments while she pulled the couch out and got it ready for sleep. It was only Monday, but she already had things that piled up. She was planning a different kind of race that Friday, one that would bring the popularity of the Club back to its former heights, but many things still had to be done in preparation. Beyond that, she had to work at the shop and avoid Hideo.

"I think that pillow is as fluffy as it's going to get."

Michiru's voice reached Haruka and she stared at the pillow that she kept tossing in her hands for who knew how long. "Right." She set the pillow down and threw a blanket over the ready bed. "It's all ready, your high-" She turned around and her jaw dropped at the sight of Michiru wearing nothing but a spaghetti-strap white dress that barely covered her behind and definitely did not hide the color variations underneath.

'_When did she have time to change?' _Haruka let go of the blanket and forced her jaw back up. "Was that in my closet?"

"It was." Michiru smiled and slowly walked up. "Shocking, isn't it?"

"You can say that again." Haruka caught her healthy arm and Michiru found herself on top of the bed, with Haruka hovering. The dark blue eyes traveled the length of the slim body, tracing every curve. Shortly, Haruka's hand followed her eyes, bringing the silky material even higher up Michiru's hip. Her eyes darkened even more and Haruka ravaged Michiru's lips, unable to contain herself anymore. Minutes later Haruka found herself being straddled by the violinist, her shirt unbuttoned, and both of them panting.

"You haven't made love to me since that night…" Michiru's voice was barely audible, and the pained expression in her eyes cut Haruka like a sharpest blade.

"I didn't want to hurt you."

"I've been out of the hospital for two and a half weeks…"

Haruka cupped Michiru's cheek and gently stroked it with her thumb. "But you're still recovering."

"Your attention makes me heal faster, not the other way around."

"Then I shall give you all the attention you deserve." Haruka's voice turned low and threatening and Michiru yelped as she landed on her back once again, Haruka's lips and hands caressing her body. Michiru tried to reach and take Haruka's shirt off, which led to Haruka pulling away and throwing everything she was wearing to the floor. She was back in no time and the heat from their bodies filled the room. Neither of them got any sleep that night, each reacquainting herself in the most sensual ways with the woman she loved.

**x x x  
**

Superintendent General Sanu Daiki officially took three days off of his duty for a family emergency. His leave notification was left on his secretary's phone, which she discovered early Tuesday morning. Though unusual, no one gave it much thought. In his absence, Hideo met with the lead investigator on the Wing of Night case and presented the photos to the middle-aged police veteran, along with his theory. Before noon that day an arrest warrant was issued in Takeushi Hayate and Tenoh Haruka's names. The police officers that arrived to the residential address found in the license registration records for Takeushi Hayate found an empty house. For the lack of any other leads, they set a surveillance team outside of Haruka's house.

Another set of police officers made their way to Hideo's own house and caught Eiko off-guard. She insisted that she was shocked at the news, denied any knowledge of Haruka not being who she claimed to be, and furthermore, defended the blonde racer to the best of her ability. The police officers left empty handed, but Eiko knew that she would be watched from that point on. Fooling the police officers during an interview was nothing - she was a great actress with over twenty years of experience, but she knew that if she made one wrong step after that conversation, she would put all of them: Haruka, herself and Michiru, in trouble. She wanted nothing more but to contact the blonde and let her know what was going on, but she was afraid to do so.

**x x x  
**

The sun was high up in the sky, its rays warm and relaxing. Sayuri inhaled another lungful of smoke and slowly exhaled it, letting it take away the stress of her shift. Her shift that ended over three hours ago, yet she still found herself outside of the Emergency Room. Her cigarette ended and she took another one, setting it between two rows of, strangely, perfectly white teeth. Her whole body shook and then tensed as someone brought up a lighter to the end of the cigarette. The scent of the man who stood next to her, the air of his presence, were utmost familiar and her heart did a few somersaults. She turned her head ever so slowly and finally faced Daiki, their eyes locking. He took the cigarette he just lit up out of her mouth and replaced it with his lips. For a period of time, the length of which was unknown to Sayuri, she was kissed like she never was before. It was possessive and tender at the same time. It was also in public. She lost herself completely, until she felt Daiki flinch just a little, and pulled away. The cigarette burned all the way down and scolded his fingers. He threw the butt in the receptacle and brought her closer once more, wrapping his hand around her waist.

"What are you doing here?" Her smitten expression was gone, replaced by the more familiar indifferent front.

"I came to visit." He lowered his head and she pulled away again. "I missed you."

"What, you ran out of women in Tokyo, so you decided to come all the way to Osaka?" Sayuri surveyed him from underneath her eyelashes. He looked the same, but for the new wrinkles she saw etched in his forehead. She gathered that the past few months were not easy for him either.

"You can say that." He put both of his hands in his pockets. "The one I want is here."

"Dai-"

"Can we talk somewhere?" He interrupted her, knowing where the conversation was going at that point.

Sayuri considered walking back into the hospital and leaving through another door, but that was just childish. If he wanted to find her, he would find her. Case in point.

"Let me get my things."

He waited patiently for her to come back, more than once wondering if she would. He too knew that there were many exists out of the hospital and she could have used any one of them and been long gone by now. When her figure appeared though the double doors again, he stifled a sigh of relief. His dark eyes roamed her body clad in a yellow summer dress that matched her eyes quite nicely. He waited for her to approach and they made their way to his unmarked black SUV.

"You came here in this?"

"I didn't want to be flashy."

"That's something new."

He chuckled. "There are too many things going on."

She nodded. "We'll take mine."

Not surprisingly, Daiki parked close to her black Nissan. Sayuri unlocked it and passed the keys over to him, out of habit if nothing more. "Where to?" He held the passenger door for her and then made his way behind the wheel.

"There is a diner about fifteen minutes away from here, it's semi-private and has good food."

"Tell me the way."

With the exception of directions given by Sayuri, their fifteen-minute ride was silent. Sayuri took those fifteen minutes to get her bearings straight. When she realized that he was standing behind her, she wanted nothing more but to ravage his body, right then and there. She missed him, at least she was sure she missed him in that way. What she was not sure about was that she wanted him back in her life. In any capacity.

"We're here."

They made their way inside and asked for the corner booth. It was a Western-style diner that, indeed, did not have that many customers at this time of the day. Most people just finished their lunch and left. They placed their orders and sat silently, Daiki looking at Sayuri, Sayuri looking at the glass she was playing with.

"Will you please come back with me?" He caught one of her hands.

"Straight to the point, as usual." She raised her yellowish eyes to his. "You haven't changed a bit."

"I thought you liked me just the way I am."

"Do I?"

"Don't you?"

"I don't know."

He let go of her hand and leaned into the back of the seat. "How many years have we spent together, Say?"

"Too many." She returned to playing with her glass. "Which is irrelevant to where we are now."

"How so?"

"Dai, what we had was a casual arrangement. It was sex and nothing more. Let me remind you that I hated your guts when I met you - everything from your mouth to your behavior around others, to your corrupt nature and what you do for a living."

His facial expression did not change, but his eyes got a few degrees cooler. "Never bothered you in the two and a half years you spent in my bed."

"A lapse of judgment."

"You mean to tell me that you don't give a shit about what we had, about me, or about having it again?"

She bit her tongue to the immediate positive response and gave it another consideration. She missed him to the point of being in pain, physically and emotionally, but she would never admit it to him. Their relationship was never supposed to develop beyond the no strings attached arrangement, so what was he doing following her to Osaka? Admittedly, a part of her was dreaming he would do that, but it was a small part, one that she preferred to hide. Their food arrived, but neither of them made a move.

"What we had was a business deal. We both like to be in control, Daiki, we both controlled that situation. I am not comfortable with where this is going."

"And where is this going?" He barely contained the vile in his tone.

"You following me here reeks of a relationship."

"Sayuri, having sex with the same person for two years every time you want to, spending holidays together, knowing each other as well as we do _is_ a relationship."

She shook her head stubbornly. "No. We could have ended it as quickly as it began."

"Really?" He was reaching his limit. "Tell me then, look in my eyes and tell me that when you left because of my fuck up, you not even once missed what we had."

She looked in his eyes with all the serenity he was lacking and for a moment he thought she was going to say just that. "I miss the sex, Dai. I'm not sure I miss you."

Of all the times he has been hit in his life, nothing has ever hurt as much as that one statement did. "Then why aren't you fucking someone else?"

It was Sayuri's turn to retreat. She did not have an answer to that and it seemed illogical. Indeed, if she only cared for the act and not for the man, why did not she find someone else?

"I don't want to deal with other people. I don't even want to deal with my own family. I need space and I had that in our relationship… I liked that, I don't want to lose that."

"I never meant to take your freedom away. I asked you to marry me because that's what most women want, but I never meant for it to change anything."

"I'm not most women. Besides, how could it not? I've never lived with someone and I wouldn't know how to. I don't like to try and fit in. I don't want to worry about what I do and how my new family will look at it. I don't want to care for what others think."

"What others, Sayuri? What family? I haven't spoken to my parents in fifteen years. I don't even know if they're alive. My only family is the little brat who you talk to on your own and you never gave a shit about what Haruka has against us. Now that she likes you, you decide to worry about what others think? What the fuck, you're not making any sense, woman!"

"Maybe I don't… I just need space, Daiki. I need to figure out what I want from life."

"Come back to Tokyo with me and figure it out there. We can return to what we had from the beginning, without anything beyond that, until you know what you want."

She shook her head very slowly. "If I go back to Tokyo, that will be exactly what happens - I'll be sleeping with you and you'll pretend that the past six months never happened. I need to figure out what I want in the long term. We're not kids anymore, Dai."

"We weren't kids three years ago either."

"I never gave it as much thought then as I'm doing now."

He snickered. "That's quite obvious."

"If I go back, I don't want to share you anymore." Her sad eyes met his surprised ones. "The problem is, both you and I know that you can't do that. You're not that kind of person. You'll never be able to be faithful and you'll never be able to be serious about getting strings attached. It's just not you. You're like a hormone-ridden teenager who runs after every pretty girl in a short skirt and only plays family on the side. You even proposed as a joke, Dai. How can I ever take any relationship with you seriously?"

"Really, how can you?" He grabbed his wallet and put enough bills to cover the food on the table, then stood up. His eyes found Sayuri's again as he towered over her. "I hoped you of all people would know me better." He placed a short kiss on her lips and left, just like he appeared a couple of hours earlier.

Sayuri's eyes were shut closed because she did not want to open them and see him gone, despite everything she just said. She savored the taste of that last kiss for as long as she could, while silent tears ran down her cheeks. When she finally opened her eyes, they fell on a diamond ring that laid next to her untouched plate. It was a princess-cut tension held diamond, something she loved instantly and that fit her taste perfectly, despite her never sharing that much with Daiki. Her shaking hand picked it up and she stifled a sob, kissing the cold hard surface.

**x x x  
**

Daiki walked all the way back to his car. More than anything he felt like taking out his gun and shooting randomly until he was satisfied. Or beating the life out of someone. He has never ever, not even when Haruka took his money and shot at him, felt as enraged as he was at that moment. For once in his life he wanted to share feelings with someone, to share life with someone, to have some sense of normalcy, and he was shot down like a teenager in love. He hated himself for trying. He hated himself because he knew that this would end up the way it did, yet he still tried. He was not sure if it was stubbornness, stupidity, or something else. The fact that he did it simply because he really wanted her in his life was not a good enough explanation.

It did not help that he was in Osaka and had a long drive back because he did nothing but analyze the turn his life took in a span of an hour. Nothing really changed, except for the finality of the notion that he lived, would live, and would die alone, just like a bastard like him should. When the lights of Tokyo greeted him back Tuesday night, his exhausted brain directed him to drive to the nearest familiar bar, which he did. In the aftermath of that adventure, he only remembered getting to the bar and then walking into his office Friday morning.

**x x x  
**

"Yo."

"Yo? Is that new for 'good morning, Haruka, how are you doing today, would you like a cup of coffee'?" Haruka threw her helmet on the counter and continued walking through the garage.

"Eh…" Hiro scratched the back of his head, trying to figure out exactly what kind of mood she was in. One wrong move and he would end up not going to the race that night and he really wanted to be there. "Would you like anything?"

She was about to ruffle his hair as she passed him, but then decided against it, as the amount of gel he used came to mind. "I was kidding, relax, will ya?"

"I never know with you…"

"That's also true. Now get to work and I'm not here if anyone asks."

"Okay okay." He raised both of his hands in a surrendering gesture as she disappeared in the back of the shop. "New day, same shit." Hiro walked to the car that needed new breaks, shaking his head all the while.

Downstairs, Haruka got to her workstation and went over the details of the race one more time. The ratings and the interest in the Club have been steadily declining since Yasu stopped coming and both Haruka and Daiki appeared only occasionally. In order to bring everything where it belonged, Haruka planned something that has never happened before. The race would take place on the narrow and winding roads of the mountains and the winner would be one who made it first to the very bottom. Unlike the other occasions, the only video feed would be provided from the two helicopters - one concentrating on the front of the line and one capturing everything else. The night vision cameras would transmit live video straight back to the warehouse, where the crowd would be, from which point the stream would make its way to the Internet.

She looked at the screen, where a long list of phone numbers gave her an idea of how many people would be attending. She did not disclose the location of the race outside of those who needed to know it, announcing through the website that those who wanted to attend would be notified by e-mail or text four hours in advance. The location was three hours outside of the city and Haruka did not want anyone to get there too early. Currently, the list contained 134 numbers, and those were only the ones who wanted to be notified directly. The anticipation finally started to build up.

Haruka's state of euphoric concentration was disrupted by the sound of shoes on top of her head. The panel slid open as she turned and the first set of black, police, boots appeared in her view. Haruka unstraddled her chair and took a proper seat, crossing both her legs and her arms.

"To what do I owe the displeasure?"

"To this." Daiki threw a single piece of paper in front of her as the other two men made their way down and stood behind him.

Hiro was the last one to appear in the small room, creeping to the back and searching her face for directions. Haruka grabbed the piece of paper and her features hardened. "Hiro, lock up and join us." He ran back up without any hesitation and they all could hear garage doors sliding.

A copy of the warrant for her arrest disappeared in Haruka's fist and her calm eyes met her cousin's. "And what do you suggest we do about this?"

"For starters…" Daiki took a seat at the table in the middle and gestured for the other men to do the same. "...we are canceling tonight's race." Haruka's expression did not change and he continued. "In more of a long term, you're out."

"Sanu-san, I think you may be rushing things a bit."

Daiki turned to face Sasake. "Really?"

"Yes. We have a problem, but chopping off the head of this operation is not a solution."

"We have three heads between us, I'm sure you're not any less able than this idiot girl, are you?"

"Sanu-san, we all do things outside of this hobby… unlike Tenoh-san."

"Sasake-san, if you don't feel comfortable with my decision, the door is open."

"Now, Sanu-san, are you going to disband the whole Club while you're at it?"

Daiki turned to the blonde man on the other side of the table. "I will if that's what it takes to save it, Clasco-san."

"You don't have the authority to do so." Clasco said lowly. "You drag us here on a short notice, you don't explain what's going on, and now all these theatrics? Who do you think you are?"

"I'm the man who put this god damn club together. Who do you think you are?" Daiki has long lost his patience.

"I'm one of the four current votes. Any solution shall be put to a vote, like it always has."

"Who do you think came up with that system, you moron?"

"Does it matter?" Haruka finally spoke. "Here is what we're going to do… Tonight's race will be held according to plan. It's away from Tokyo, no one will be looking where we're going to be. Too much is at stake. After the race is over tonight, I will take leave until the resolution of my current problem. Any objections?"

Daiki felt three sets of eyes drill into his scull. He felt like everything was spinning out of his control. He thought he drank his unsuccessful attempt off and put his troubles behind him, only to walk into his office and find out that a warrant for Haruka's arrest has been issued. That was when Daiki lost it. What he did not expect was everyone turning on him. Without Haruka so much as opening her mouth.

"You will be risking the safety of all those people, Haru. Are you comfortable with that?"

"I'm only risking the safety of the drivers, everyone else will be at a remote location. The drivers know what they're getting themselves into, it's nothing new." She got up and looked at each and every one of them, including Hiro, who was sitting on the stairs. "If we stop this race, we won't bring the club back for a long while, if ever. Are you comfortable with that?"

"No." As angry as Daiki was with their insubordination, she had a point.

"Then we will proceed." She walked up to him and squatted, bringing her eyes to the level of his. "You can take solace in the notion that I'll be out, just like you wanted me to."

"Stupid bitch. I never wanted for that to happen. You've compromised this operation and yourself. In what world do you think I wanted it to come to this?"

"I'm sorry, Dai. We are where we are. We just have to pick it up from here." Haruka got up and looked at her watch. "Well, since you're all here, I might as well announce the location in your presence."

All four men watched as she pulled up the map on one of the wall screens and zeroed in on the location. "Hiro, let the subscribers know in another two hours. I'll contact the racers." She gave the men at the table a last look. "I will see you in a few hours, gentlemen." She walked out of the room with her head up high and her composure absolutely intact. Her calm exterior did not show any of the emotions that tore through her system. The iron taste of blood in her mouth was the only physical evidence of how close she came to losing it downstairs. She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and let it absorbed the blood on the inside of her cheek.

**x x x**_**  
**_

It was already a long and tiring day and Ichiro still had to drive to the race. When Haruka called him two hours earlier, he did not welcome the news, even though he and the other racers had quite an advantage over the observers. They found out the location over six hours in advance. He made his way through the large mansion, wondering why he even bothered to stop by before heading out there. Then he remembered that he had to pick up his car. He loosened his tie as he walked through the doors of the library and froze as the extremely sharp end of katana touched his Adam's apple.

"How many times have I told you not to point your toys at me?"

His right hand reached for the lights and flipped them on. Yasu stood on her knees in a wide leather chair, holding the katana tightly with both of her hands. "You took something that belongs to me."

She sounded like an upset child. All that was missing was a cute pout. Ichiro took the blade with his thumb and index finger and slowly lowered it down. "What are you going to do, cut me in pieces because of a violin you've never touched in your life?"

"That's an enticing idea."

"I'd offer you a match, but you're in no condition." He pointedly looked at her cast.

"Fuck you."

"No, thanks." He walked to his desk and threw his tie down, noticing that his computer was already on. "Isn't it a bit early to be preparing to watch the race?"

"Don't want to miss anything."

She had a strange aura around her and Ichiro was not sure if it was the katana that emphasized it or if there was something going on, but it bothered him. "What are you up to, Yasu?"

"What do you care?"

"You know I care…"

"Since when?" She settled down in a much more feminine position, but the sword lay securely in her lap. "Give me a break, Ichi, you never gave a shit about me."

"Excuse me?"

"Why would you? You can't feel any more than I can, so why would I even assume that you care? You send me away when I need you, you don't protect me when I need you… you just play your own games. I was foolish to think that you were the loving little brother… you never were weak like you pretended to be. You are even sneakier than I am. You were lying to me all along."

"Yasu." He sat down on top of the desk, facing her. "The solitude of your rehab is making you more of a lunatic. I've cared so much for you that I shot our father. I cared so much for you that I betrayed my best and only friend. I still care for you, which is why I'm running the whole clan and letting you rest and recover quicker."

"Liar." She picked up the katana again and drew swirls in the air with its edge. "But it's okay. Now we both know who we are. We truly are related."

He did not one bit like the smile on her face. For the first time he wondered how seriously she considered slitting his throat with the toy in her hands. She certainly had many opportunities to do so. Including the one five minutes ago. "I have to go Yasu. Wish me luck."

She gave him a sweet smile that did not reach her eyes and swung her katana once more. "Good luck."

**x x x  
**

"Are you worried?" Michiru searched Haruka's profile.

"No. I'm thrilled."

"Running on the edge thrills you?"

"Is that surprising?"

"Not at all." Michiru shrugged.

"I was getting bored with the regular races for a while now. This should be fun."

"If you say so." Michiru was a bit uncomfortable with the notion of mountain racing. She looked away from her girlfriend and into the rearview mirror. "Are we being followed?"

"Uh huh."

"By whom?" Michiru looked across her shoulder, wondering if it was the man Hideo hired.

"Right behind us is Daiki. Three cars behind is Ichiro." She looked in her side mirror. "I think Hiro is behind Daiki too."

"Did you all agree to drive together?" Michiru sat back in her seat, perplexed.

"No. Daiki and Hiro left from the shop at the same time, I assume. Ichiro joined our ranks a few minutes ago. That's what happens when you go to the same place and you're supposed to be there at the same time."

"I guess it makes sense." Michiru watched the first stars appear in the cloudless sky. The weather was perfect for the roads were dry, the air cool, and the wind almost died down completely. "Is everything else ready for the race?"

"Yep. We'll get this party started in no time."

**x x x  
**

One of the two identical phones went off in the safety box of an empty bank. Just as many times before, the caller was forwarded straight to the automatic message system. On the other side of the world, Hanz van Ludwig contemplated leaving a voicemail with the name of the father of the child Haruka was so interested in, but decided to let her know personally when she called him back next time.

**x x x  
**

The large warehouse at the base of the mountain was packed with people. The colorful cars filled both the edges of the building and the parking lot outside. There was no deficit of screens or speakers and the crowd already raged, intending to spend the whole night in this venue, where they were in no danger of being caught in participating in an illegal activity. Not one car that took part in the race was there. Instead, the fifteen racers gathered on the opposite side of the mountain, at the very top.

The excited hum of the crowd toned down the blasting music. Michiru made her way through to Hiro's booth and looked at the green image on one of the screens. The fifteen cars stood in a formation of two in a row, Haruka's Enzo closing up the ranks by itself. The trick of this race was that the usual rule of formation, where the leading racer got the advantage to go first, was reversed, thus placing the most skilled at the back. Haruka personally had to get past fourteen other cars in order to take a lead. The challenge boosted both the spirits of the racers and the bets of the viewers. Never in the history of the club were bets that high.

"Explain to me again why aren't you doing this?" She turned to Daiki, who was sitting in a chair next to Hiro.

"It may come as a surprise, but I actually value my life and freedom."

"Chickened out, ne?" Hiro got a slap on the back of his head for offending his senior.

"Someone has to watch over a moron like you when the stakes are this high." Daiki was referring to the earlier conversation at the shop.

"It can't be that dangerous, can it?" There was only a barely detectable trace of concern in Michiru's voice, but Daiki caught it.

"Any race is dangerous, that's why we do it - the thrill."

"And here I thought it was all about the money." Michiru smirked at him.

"Money is a nice bonus."

"How insincere."

"Hmph." He turned back to the table and grabbed a walkie. "Yo, Fijiama, where are we at?"

"_Hovering."_

"Kai?"

"_Same. Feed should come through any second now."_

"Got it. You_'_re good. Kai, take the lead."

"_Roger."_

"Sakuya, how's the pack?"

"_Anxious."_

"Okay. Let's take another minute to breathe and you're good to set them off. Just don't forget to step away."

"_Ha."_

Michiru looked around and noticed that the humming decreased, as did the movement around the warehouse. People gathered around the screens nearest to them and watched the black-green images in anticipation. Daiki increased the volume on the walkie to the top and brought it to the mic he had nearby.

"_Ready… Set… Go"_

The crowd roared as the voice shouted through the speakers, silencing the music. Fifteen machines sprang into action. Haruka took a deep breath and eased her grip on the wheel. She shifted from gear to gear mindlessly as her car tried to catch up with those directly in front of her. Naturally, her best competitors were directly ahead. Ichiro's red Enzo flew down the hill side by side with a blue Mustang. Both drivers attempted to gain advantage on the car ahead of them at the same time, completely blocking Haruka's way. She could do nothing but wait for one of the three to get ahead. Ichiro seemed to be making some progress and Haruka got behind him, maneuvering on the windy road, bumper to bumper.

Back at the warehouse the crowd cheered as the first changes in the formation took effect. The three cars that started last no longer closed up the ranks, but rather moved slowly ahead of the others. Slowly but surely the arrangement of the cars kept changing as the procession zoomed down around the mountain.

Haruka was still not in the lead, but she was steadily gaining advantage over the other competitors. The slow pace of passing the cars on a downhill road made her mind wander and she was soon thinking back to everything that has happened that day, in the past week, and lately in general. The closer to the front of the formation she got, the easier it became, leaving her with only two worthy competitors. Ichiro was still ahead of her. She checked the rearview mirror and, sure enough, the Mustang was right behind. She switched the gears in anticipation of a rather sharp turn and thought back to the unscheduled meeting that happened between the Wings earlier that day. She got herself cornered, but she did not expect for the Wings to agree with her that easily. Sasake has always questioned everything that was not a 100% fail-proof, while Clasco constantly challenged her motives. Both of them standing by her decision was a bit odd.

Perhaps it was the fact that she planned this whole event by herself. Sasake was their financial back bone, while Clasco was the one who generally planned their meetings and figured out locations for the races. In his recent absence Haruka had to take on that role.

"_Two weeks ago the boy just disappeared… apparently his father took him."_

"_They are in Spain, the boy is staying at a vineyard."_

The phone logs. Yasu spoke to Clasco once. Haruka thought it was because of the Club… Her eyes found the rearview mirror again. The Mustang was still there. How could she not see it before? He was absent for a month and the time overlapped perfectly. She has always known that Clasco was from Spain. Besides, the kid was his mirror image.

A sour taste appeared in her mouth as she took another turn and passed the last car remaining from the original formation. Now it was between her and Ichiro. The red Enzo sped down the hill freely, putting some distance between Ichiro and Haruka. Haruka did not waste any time either, but had to slow down as another sharp turn appeared in her view. She took a sharp right and the Mustang disappeared from her rearview mirror, only to appear fully on the passenger side of her car. In slow motion Haruka saw the headlights of the oncoming car, as well as many more approaching in the distance. Her right foot floored the pedal and for the first time in her life she knew that not even the wind would help her.

**x x x**

"Wh- what the fuck is he doing?" Hiro jumped to his feet as soon as he noticed the Mustang gain speed instead of slowing down as the car headed towards the turn. He could not tear his eyes away from the screen, nor could the man sitting next to him.

Daiki paled considerably before jumping to his feet as well. "He's going for a kill, that's what the fucker is doing. Call an ambulance." The last words were thrown over a stunned crowd as Daiki made his way out of the warehouse and jumped in his car, heading straight for the side of the mountain.

Michiru stood rooted the floor. Only her eyes moved, following, as though in slow motion, the image of a car that charged into what she knew was Haruka's Enzo. In another second an explosion filled up the screen, killing any sound within the warehouse. All eyes were on a large bright green spot in the middle of the screens, while people collectively held their breath.


	32. Headless

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 32**

**Headless**

Aden Clasco was born in Spain, a country that he has never left until his graduation from college. Upon graduation, unattached to anything, he followed his then friend and former classmate to Japan. Languages was something he always excelled at and in a few years Aden spoke fluent Japanese, in addition to his native Spanish and English that he picked up while in school. This set of skills, aside from anything else, put him in a perfect position to work in a multinational corporation based out of Japan. Not having any family in the country or any relationships that would occupy his time, Aden quickly climbed the career ladder, coming to his current position as a Vice President of Marketing. He traveled a lot, made more money than he could spend, and generally felt satisfied with himself.

A version of midlife crisis hit him when he was thirty-three. Aden got a new girlfriend, a new house and a new car, but it still did not feel like enough. The short-lived relationship with his girlfriend at the time, though, changed his life forever. That girlfriend introduced him to drag racing. He finally put his new Mustang and his free time to something that gave him pleasure. It took Aden a while to become good at racing, but his determination was not unnoticed by others. Neither were his marketing and planning skills. Aden Clasco became the fourth Wing of Night, shortly after Abe Sayuri did.

Being a part of the gang was satisfying in more than one way. Aden liked the power and he liked the impression his new position made on the girls at the races. He never had to do anything to get some company, he only had to choose the lucky girl. Yasu was one of those girls. To him, she was the embodiment of oriental beauty, but her personality was a complete opposite of her looks. Their relationship lasted a bit longer than the other ones he had with women he met through the Club, but it was nothing more than just a fling to him. In the end, he was ten years her senior and had no desire whatsoever to deal with her nastiness. There were other women waiting for him.

Yasu disappeared from his life when she left the club, but reappeared on his doorstep a year later. He let her in, figuring that whatever it was, he could not afford to be seen with her in public. To his surprise, the purpose of Yasu's visit was to tell him that he had a son. He knew that she did not need his support for the child, being who she was, so her revelation perplexed him. She told him that she left their son in Germany, where he was born, and that she intended to bring him to Japan when he was sixteen. Her only request was that Aden would stay away from the boy until then, to which he agreed. At first, he tried to pretend that nothing changed and that he did not have a son, but it did not quite work and he found himself thinking about the boy day and night. Aden went to Germany and celebrated his son's first birthday with the adoptive family. He kept in constant contact with them ever since.

Yasu's return to the Club did nothing to change their relationship, they both pretended not to have any past and only acted civilly with each other as fellow racers. Her call a month ago was as unexpected as her showing up at his door two years prior. Aden was not stupid and knew when he was being played, especially by his ex. He decided to use the situation in his favor and take his son to his parents' vineyard in Spain. The month that he spent there was the best month of his life and he seriously considered not coming back, but he had a job to come back to.

When he returned to Japan, Aden never once thought of any sort of revenge against Haruka. He did not even know if Yasu said the truth or if she lied to him. He figured that he would simply let things take their course. Take their course they did when he got a call on the way to the race. His parents called to let him know that a German man appeared in town, inquiring into their family. That day, the German made a personal appearance at their house as a salesman and Clascos decided to let their son know.

As he sat in his car, waiting for the race to start, Aden could think of nothing more than the fact that Yasu was being truthful and that Haruka was watching their son. He did not know what the purpose of her doing so was, but it pissed him off. His anger built up inside and was only fueled by the other blonde racer who was right in front of him. As he followed her down the slope, the always collected Aden lost his control over himself. When he saw an opportunity, he plunged forward, saying to himself that no one threatened his son.

His Mustang hit the Enzo straight on, literally slicing it in half on an impact. Without any hesitation and a moment before the cars collided, he opened his door and jumped out. His body was propelled on the hard pavement and rolled on an impact. At first Aden felt the hard blow and the deep scratches, but after the explosion deafened him, he could feel no more. He lay on the edge of the hill, his eyes looking into the midnight sky that was tinted orange by the raging fire. The screeching of tires, the sound of two helicopters, and the voices of people did not reach his mind. All he could think of was that his son was now safe and he was still alive. He would quit his job, sell everything he had in Japan and move back to Spain. Now, for the first time in his life, he really was attached to something; or rather, someone. All he had to do was scramble to his feet, somehow make it back to Tokyo, and leave the country as soon as he could. He imagined how happy his little boy would be to see him again. They would run between the grape rows in the vineyard, just like they did a week ago. Aden would teach his son swimming in the small lake located on the property, just like his father did. He no longer needed this adrenalin rush, he was no longer alone in the world. Finally, someone was waiting for Aden.

**x x x  
**

Back at the warehouse, all eyes were still on the large bright green spot in the middle of the screens, while people collectively held their breath. Both helicopters now showed the scene of the accident from different angles and the hope that what they saw was just a hoax evaporated. Everyone started talking at the same time. People who could disperse in minutes in an organized fashion were for the first time succumbed by total chaos. Accidents happened before, people were injured before, but never on a scale like this. Hysteria spread its poisonous vines through the crowd of observers.

Hiro finally gained control of his body and pulled out his cellphone. He did not bother calling an ambulance, he could not. Instead, he scrolled through his contacts. After everything that happened earlier that day, knowing that there was a warrant for Haruka's arrest, they could not take her to a hospital. Especially not as a victim of a car accident, the accusations would be confirmed once and for all. He finally found the number he was looking for and dialed it with a trembling finger.

"Give me your keys."

"Huh?" He turned towards the unfamiliar voice to find Michiru standing with her outstretched hand. Unlike him, she was cool and collected. Too cool for his liking, much like Haruka was earlier that day. What worried him more was the absence of expression in her eyes.

"Give me your car keys, Hiro."

"Do you even know how to drive?"

"Maedo Hiro, if you don't give me your car keys this minute, I will get them off of your body myself."

He swallowed and pulled the keys out of his pocket, unsure what else to do. As Michiru grabbed the keys from him, a sleepy voice answered the phone on the other end of the line.

"_Hiro? What's wrong?"_

"Abe-sensei, there's been an accident."

"_What?"_

"Haruka has been in an accident."

"_How bad is she?"_

"I- I don't know."

"_What do you mean you don't know?"_

"Sanu told me to call an ambulance, but I can't because she'll be arrested. The explosion, I don't even know if she's alive, but he told me to call… ambulance."

"_Hiro! Stop mumbling, you're not making any sense. Is Haruka alive?"_

"I don't know."

"_Well, then figure it out and call me back god damn it!"_

"Y-yes, sensei."

He hang up and grabbed one of the walkies. "Fijiama?… Kai?… Anyone there?" His heart pumped in his ears as he waited for someone to respond.

"_Yes, Maedo, we're here."_

"H-how is Tenoh?"

"_This is Kai. We're trying to land on the road, can't tell anything from the air because of the flames."_

"_Same here, only we get the smoke. Kai, if you land, you've gotta take 'em to the hospital."_

"_Yeah, roger that."_

"You have to take her to Osaka."

"_Come again?"_

"We're half way there and Abe is in Osaka. She'll be waiting."

"_Abe? Just like the old times, huh?"_

"_I sure as hell hope it's like the old times, Fijiama. We're almost on the ground and there ain't much but a pile of burning metal left."_

Silence spread on both ends of the walkies again. "Kai, let us know when you see for sure."

"_Roger."_

Hiro put the walkie on the table and sat down, holding his head with both of his shaking hands. He has been with Haruka for years, he knew her a lot better than anyone in that building. She was confident, assertive and cocky a lot of times. She never once showed that she was bothered by the police, by rival gangs, by yakuza, or by anyone else for that matter. Hiro has never seen her in a car accident, never seen anyone hurt her. Over the years he really did start to believe that she was invincible. An invincible hero who saved his life, took him in, gave him a job, and so much more. The last thing he wanted to believe was that she was any different from that image. Haruka he loved should be able to walk out through the fire, completely unharmed, like they did in the movies. Unfortunately, Hiro knew that it was the reality, not some romanticized fantasy.

**x x x  
**

Ichiro was pretty happy with himself when he took the lead. He has not had that much fun in a while and he knew that there was still a tough competition ahead of him for the ten miles that were left of the race. He was waiting for Haruka to catch up with him any moment. Instead, he heard something that closely resembled an explosion. He took a sharp turn just recently and the rest of the competitors, Haruka included, were still on the other side of the mountain. The rearview mirror showed no headlights, but he could see the orange glow in the sky.

"Fuck." Ichiro slammed the breaks and turned around in one motion. He raced back towards the glow and got out of his car on the other side of the sharp turn. Right in front of him was rubble and a burning pile. The other racers were already there, sorting through the leftovers of Haruka's Enzo. One look at the burning metal and Ichiro knew what happened. He walked up the road, noting the absence of any tire marks that only confirmed his suspicions. Whatever happened, it was not an accident because the Mustang never even tried to stop. Ichiro continued on, ignoring the cries of others as they rushed to the scene. He was not looking for what was left there, he was looking for the cause of this misfortune. He found it on the edge of the cliff, a few hundred feet away from the site of the crash.

"Gravity." He squatted next to the badly injured man and took in his state. Clasco's blonde hair hang in bloody clumps, he had scratches on every visible surface of his body, and Ichiro was sure, there were broken bones underneath it all. Ichiro was not even sure if the man would survive without immediate medical attention. It was obvious by the look in Aden's eyes that he was in shock and could not feel the state he was in.

"Gravity didn't take you down the hill, did it?" It seemed as though the man's body did not reach the edge by just a little bit. Somehow Aden jumped out of a speeding car, got propelled to the side of the road and still did not roll down the mountain. Ichiro looked down into the black nothingness. The slope was very steep, covered by grass, other low vegetation and rocks. If he fell over, Aden would definitely have never made it.

"You lucky piece of shit."

The words reached Aden through afar. He smiled, thinking that, indeed, he was lucky. He had a beautiful son who he was about to be reunited with. He also survived a car crash. How much luckier could he be? The earlier images of his son running through the vineyard made him smile even wider, despite the cuts in his face.

Ichiro got up and looked into the cloudy green eyes. "I'm glad you're still conscious, though. Because no one gets to be this lucky after what you just did, you fucker. Go to hell." Ichiro pulled the gun from the holster he wore underneath his jacket as of late, took the safety off and fired two clean shots through the blonde head.

The dreamy green eyes forever stared unseeingly into the orange sky. In Aden's vision, his son never made it into his open arms, just like he never would in reality.

Ichiro put his gun away and kicked the body over the edge, where it belonged. Unwillingly, he turned back to the mess and headed in the direction he could no longer avoid. For the first time he really did not want to face death. Not when the victim was the friend he just got back.

**x x x  
**

"Stupid, brainless, cocky bitch! You never listen to me, you idiot! I fucking told you that you got yourself in too much of a mess and you wouldn't fucking listen!" He hit the wheel with both of his fists as angry tears collected in the corners of his eyes. Daiki drove up the mountain, hoping to whatever god in existence that he could still tell her that in her face.

"You knew this was going to happen!" He remembered her request, when she gave him his money back.

"_If something ever happens to me, the first thing I need you to do is dial that number and tell the person who answers that the wind has died down."_

"You fucking knew this was gonna happen, kid! What is wrong with you?" At some point he realized that yelling at her while he was driving by himself was doing nothing to help the situation and reached for his cell. He dialed the number that he programmed when she left and waited for the long, international, rings to go through.

"_Yes?"_

"The wind has died down."

"_Thank you."_

The person on the other end of the line disconnected as quickly as he answered and Daiki stared at the phone, ignoring the road ahead. "What the fuck was that?" He hit the redial button and sped up. This time, no one answered his call, nor did they pick up the next three times he redialed. Daiki threw the phone under the passenger seat and grabbed the wheel with both hands as the orange glow appeared ahead of him. Right before the sharp turn, on the widest part of the road ahead of him sat one of the choppers.

**x x x  
**

The state she was in… it was something she could never describe. She was not herself, she acted like someone she did not know. Like someone from within was guiding her, controlling her body, making it able to do things she did not think she was capable of. Like driving so fast. Sure, Haruka gave her driving lessons before Michiru was assaulted, but she never got a chance to master it. Also, Haruka's car had pedals on the side of the wheel, Hiro's car was regular stick. It was different and she has never driven one of those before, only saw them being driven, yet she did it now. She was not just driving, either. She raced through the light traffic, gaining as much speed as she could on the night highway. She did not care if she was caught, she doubted that even the devil would be able to catch her in that moment. If it tried, she would gladly accept the challenge. Michiru knew exactly where she was going and what she was going to do, nothing would stop her from getting there or from finishing it.

Less than three hours later, Michiru pulled into the now familiar underground garage and parked the car in an empty spot. She made her way up to the seventeenth floor and into the apartment. They have not been staying there for even a week, but it took Michiru only a day to discover the true purpose of that property. She came across the hidden door when she was trying on the gowns. With some hesitation, Haruka explained the nature of the apartment and what it contained when she got back from the shop that night. Now, Michiru was standing in front of the closet, surveying the arsenal inside.

At the very top of the wall, occupying half the length of the closet hang an M24. An AK-47 was fastened underneath the rifle. Below those two, Haruka assembled her Beretta collection. The items ranged from two rifles to the Tomcat. The other side of the wall was occupied by a selection of knives of different kinds, topped with two katanas. The shelves underneath were filled with accessories, bullets, and other paraphernalia. Michiru's eyes wandered through the wide array of weapons as she considered her options. She has held a gun in her hand once, when she fired it under her chin. Her momentary loss evaporated as her eyes settled on the familiar shape of Beretta 9000S, the same gun Haruka had at her house. Michiru carefully took it off of the hook and tried to figure out how to check if it was loaded.

Fifteen minutes later she knew not only that the 12-round magazine was full, but also how to take the safety off. She put the gun on the table, locked the hidden wall, put the dresses back, and closed the closet doors. She quickly changed out of her dress into a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. A pair of black Pumas completed her outfit. She grabbed the gun, put it behind her waistband like she has seen Haruka do, and left the apartment.

She has never been to the mansion before, but was not oblivious to its location. A simple search in her phone and Michiru followed the on screen directions. A little under half an hour later she pulled to the curb on an empty residential street, threw the keys inside the car and locked the door. She figured one way or another Hiro would get his car back. Perhaps when it got towed. Michiru looked around and crossed the street. No one was out at four o'clock on a Saturday morning, which suited her perfectly. According to her phone, Michiru still had about half a mile hike to the gates of the mansion. She suspected that the house of a yakuza head would be heavily guarded, not that she was intending to walk through the front door. She was not that naive or stupid.

That night when Ichiro gave her the violin, they ate, drank and shared stories from their childhood. Michiru did not realize at the time that something like a story of playing hide and seek around the mansion grounds would come in handy. According to Ichiro, the side of the fence opposite to the street was in a heavily wooded area. Though the perimeter has always been guarded and later monitored, he used to escape the grounds by climbing up a branch of a tree behind the tea house, avoiding being seen. Michiru's only hope was that the glitch in the system was not fixed since then.

Once she spotted the fence away in the distance, Michiru turned and walked slowly through the vegetation, perpendicular to the road. Walking in the dark was not the easiest thing she has ever done, but her eyes soon adjusted to the natural lighting of the moon and she made it to the opposite side of the property with only a few scratches on her arms and the palms of her hands. She sat down under a tree some distance away from the corner of the fence and observed. It was quiet, she could not hear or see anyone else, so she assumed that the perimeter was monitored through cameras and not walked by guards. Michiru was not sure if that was good or bad for her purposes. Gathering her courage together, she got up and walked along the fence, looking for a tree that extended its branches beyond the fence.

Michiru was standing directly behind the tea house that was surrounded by short bushes and myriad of different flowers. The tall maple tree covered the sky above her with its crown. From her vantage point, Michiru could see how the rich foliage would hide anyone climbing down the thick branch that extended over the fence and to the side of the tea house. She walked up to the trunk and lifted herself up with the help of the lowest branch. Maneuvering her body expertly, like a cat, she made her way to the desired branch and carefully climbed over the fence. She descended on the side of the tea house and took cover between the decorative bushes. She was in. Now it occurred to her that she had no idea what to do next. She was so concentrated on getting to the mansion grounds that she never thought beyond that. Michiru carefully peaked from behind a bush and tried to see what was around her under the cover of darkness.

She could make out the shape of the mansion in the distance. All lights were off, but she was not sure if automatic lights would turn on upon approach, like they did at her own house. The tea house Michiru was sitting by was at the very end of the property and it looked as though a garden span all the way towards the mansion. Michiru inhaled deeply and ran through the grounds, ducking under the trees and staying as close to the ground as she could. She was absolutely out of breath when she reached the side of the building. Not having any time to consider her next move, Michiru ran to the nearest door and prayed that it would be open. To her surprise, it was. As the door closed shut behind her, Michiru leaned on it with her back and stared at the hallway ahead of her. With the moonlight gone, it was hard to see, and Michiru touched the wall on her side with her fingertips to make sure that she did not trip on something. Slowly, she made her way ahead and reached another, perpendicular, hallway. Large windows lined up along the front of the mansion, allowing some light to travel through the glass and illuminate the wide space. As Michiru turned to her right, distant footsteps reached her ears. She ducked back into the dark hallway she came from and held her breath.

Two men passed her, quietly conversing among themselves. Michiru just stood there, deafened by her own heartbeat. When she could control the shaking in her body, she carefully checked both ends of the wide hallway and quickly made her way through it. She did not have a slightest idea about the layout of the house, nor did she know where Yasu might be at this hour. She assumed that the older woman would be peacefully asleep. The hallway led to a large entrance hall, where Michiru saw a wide staircase. She was about to head up when it occurred to her that Yasu would probably stay on the ground floor, considering that her foot was severely damaged. She gave the staircase another look and skipped down the hallway. A dim light appeared from underneath the door at the very end. Michiru tiptoed to it and slowly turned the knob.

A large fireplace to the left of the door illuminated the whole room and cast light underneath the door. Michiru looked around, afraid to breathe. Her right hand reached for the gun behind her waistband and pulled it out slowly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Michiru heard a click of the safety being released and felt the muzzle press against the back of her head.

One of the men she saw earlier stepped around her and took the gun out of her hand. She figured that the voice belonged to the other man who still stood behind her. She waited for their next move, frozen to the spot.

"Well, well, well… Look what the cat dragged in."

The overly sweet familiar voice reached them from the wide leather chair that sat in front of the fireplace. Michiru watched in dread as Yasu appeared from behind the back of the chair. She was wearing a simple black kimono, her long hair fell freely over her shoulders. She was standing perfectly straight, but Michiru knew that she must have been putting most of her weight on one foot, her casted one was barely touching the floor. Yasu extended her hand and the man handed her Michiru's gun.

"Ah… using your late girlfriend's toys I see." She caressed the Beretta with her index finger. "Leave." She did not even bother looking at the two men, who followed her orders without any hesitation. Yasu's black eyes traveled up Michiru's body, settling on the ocean blues. She sighed and the amused expression disappeared from her face. "You made it too easy." Yasu put the gun on a side table next to the chair and retrieved the katana that rested on the floor.

Michiru stole a glance at the gun and wondered if she could reach it, since she had an advantage next to a half-standing Yasu.

"Don't."

Michiru looked up to find Yasu watching her carefully.

"Trying to get that gun would be suicide." Yasu effortlessly swung her katana and placed its end near Michiru's face. "Although, coming here was suicide in itself. Did you really think you could just waltz into my house and shoot me? That's just plain stupid. Stupid and suicidal. Don't you care about your life?"

"Not if Haruka's not in it."

"Aww… how cute. It really is just too sad that I will no longer have you around, you were a good game."

The sharp cool metal met the softness of Michiru's skin. The violinist squeezed her eyes shut as the stinging pain entered her system and the warm blood trickled down her cheek. Yasu surveyed her work in satisfaction. A thin cut marked Michiru's perfect cheekbone. A crooked smile appeared on yakuza's face as Michiru's eyes opened.

"Liar. You can still feel the pain. For a second there I thought you became like us - your eyes lost their expression. Is it because you haven't seen her face? They cut the feed after the crash, so I didn't have the pleasure of seeing her body. Have you seen it, Michiru?"

Blood drained from Michiru's face. She did not see Haruka. She saw the explosion, she did not want to see the mangled body of the woman she loved. She wanted to remember her forever the way she knew her - tall, handsome and invincible. The memory of the crash, the certain knowledge that Yasu was behind it, the imminence of her own death made Michiru not care again. She pulled away from the blade and dropped to her knees, desperately reaching for the gun.

"Stupid bitch." Yasu brought up the katana, swung it in the air and lowered it towards the long creamy neck. The tips of Michiru's healthy hand reached the polymer surface of the gun when drops of blood rained on her outstretched arm. Mechanically, she grabbed the Beretta as her body fully landed on the floor, darkness releasing her eyes from the bloody scene. It all began and was over in a span of a second.


	33. Sunrise

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated "M" for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 33**

**Sunrise**

The mountainside accident made the national news. It was rumored, though never confirmed, that the collision was a result of an illegal race hosted by the Wing of Night. Since both cars destroyed in the accident were registered in Tokyo, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police department handled the investigation. The official conclusion of the investigation held that it was an unfortunate accident caused by faulty breaks of the Mustang. Since neither body was recovered out of the inferno, there was no inquiry in involvement of drugs or alcohol.

Three days after the crash, two funerals were held in a Tokyo cemetery. An empty casket was lowered in a grave with Aden Clasco's name. The company he worked for both organized the funeral and paid the necessary expenses. Aden's family was notified, but did not attend because his body was never recovered. Friends and co-workers mourned at his grave in a tight circle.

Some distance away a man stood in front of a fresh grave; the tombstone simply read 'T.H.' The symbolic ceremony similar to Aden's funeral was held at this grave earlier in the day and those attending have dispersed since. The man standing by the grave now did not wish to be seen by others, he wanted to visit the grave confidentially. Hideo squatted down and picked up some of the fresh soil. He had mixed feelings about what happened. He knew that many people have attended the ceremony, he has seen the reports from the scene, he has seen the gruesome images, yet he could not believe that it was over so quickly, just when he was about to get a handle on things, just when he was about to grab the Wing of Night and ruffle its feathers. However, in one night the soil seeping through his fingers was the only thing he had left of the gang.

Hideo brushed his dirty hand on the black slacks he was wearing and stood up. Ever since he met Haruka, she was a mystery to him. Every time he thought he got closer to the truth, she managed to avoid him and throw dust in his eyes. Even when he finally had proof that she was part of the gang, she still managed to escape him. He shook his head in something acutely similar to sorrow and left the cemetery.

**x x x  
**

'T.H.'

Her blue eyes stared at the letters for eternity. It was a quiet day at the end of spring, the sun was high up in the sky, making the grains of the black granite sparkle around the characters.

"I think you and I are the only ones who keep coming."

She finally blinked and looked at the man who approached and stood by her side. "Do you find it silly? That I still come?"

He shook his head. "If I did, I wouldn't be here."

"Yeah." She laid down a fresh flower, next to the one that has wilted since she came last, a week ago. "You know, today is exactly two years since I've met her."

He looked at her in surprise. "Yeah, you're right." She has aged since he met her, that same day two years ago. She was no longer a happy, funky blonde with an attitude of a teenager who cheered on the street at the drag race. She looked her age, everything that happened took a toll on all of them.

"Please don't give me that sorry look, I know I look like shit." Eiko grimaced.

He had the decency to blush. "Sorry."

She shrugged. "It's okay. You're different too. You've matured a lot, Hiro." He looked more mature as well. His hair was back to its natural brown, though still spiked. "How is the shop?"

"It's doing well. Haruka would've been proud."

The rules mandated for the club to be disbanded in the event of a fatal crash. Despite some resistance from the members and overwhelming disappointment from the public, the two remaining Wings, Sanu and Sasake, made the decision to follow through and disband the club. After the official announcement, Daiki took care of destroying any evidence of the existence of the Wing of Night. As much as it pained him, he could not find it in himself to keep on going without Haruka. Even if he would have never admitted to it, the club was his and her collaboration, it was something that connected them no matter what. There was no longer a reason to hold on to that connection.

After cleaning out the underground room of the shop, Daiki surprised Hiro by handing him paperwork that transferred the shop in young man's name. Daiki said that Haruka would have wanted Hiro to have the shop in her absence and that he did just that - put it in Hiro's name. Taking Haruka's wishes to heart, Hiro drowned his sorrow in work. As a result, the shop did increasingly well and Hiro found himself working instead of partying. Just as with so many other things, his attitude to life changed in that one eventful night.

"I'm sure you're right." Eiko gave a last glance to the characters that Haruka put in her phone two years ago and turned to leave. "Come on, I'll treat you to lunch, we'll celebrate the anniversary of our acquaintance."

Hiro chuckled and followed her out. "You sure have too much free time on your hands."

Eiko sighed. "That's what happens when you lose your children."

**x x x  
**

No pain. No ache. Nothing. She could feel nothing. It was as though her brain was locked inside a dark room and the body she did not feel was unwilling to let her out. She used to hear the steady rhythm of the machines, but not anymore. She used to hear concerned voices, but they have long ago become hopeless. Her screaming mind that was not heard by anyone else was becoming hopeless too. The only thing that still connected her to reality, made her wait, just in case this torture would end one day, was the sound of a violin.

Michiru's violin play used to calm her down when she had nightmares, it brought peace to her soul. Haruka loved Michiru's play, but whoever played the violin now was not her girlfriend. The melodies may have been the same, but not the sound. It was more ragged, less exquisite and overwhelmed by sadness. It made Haruka worried and she wanted to get out of the dark room and find out who the violinist was. She needed to know where her Michiru was. She tried to get through the thickness of the dark time and again, but failed in her every attempt.

Today was different. There were no voices, no violin sound, no sound at all; but she could see a red glow. As though light was finally penetrating her vision through the eyelids. With every ounce of strength in her body, she fought to open her eyes. When she finally saw the red sunrise through her thick eyelashes, she wondered if she was dreaming. She tried to open them all the way and resisted blinking, afraid that the large window, the garden beyond, and the red circle of the rising sun would disappear and she would be consumed by the darkness again. The nature took its course and made her blink as her eyes dried, but she did not lose consciousness. Haruka slowly turned her head and looked around. She was in an unfamiliar room, laying on a raised double bed. A loveseat, chair and a coffee table occupied the other half of the room, but they did not help her identify where she was either. There were no monitors and only one tube was connected to her arm. The mental check of her body did not return any results, so Haruka tried to sit down. Just like when she was under the cover of darkness, her body did not obey. There was a moment of horror when her anguished mind screamed and she wondered if she was completely paralyzed. After her panic subsided, she tried a smaller task - moving her fingers.

As she put all her power and all her will to it, she realized that nothing has ever felt as good as touching the softness of cotton. The tips of her fingers gently slid over the top of the sheet she was covered with and happy tears streamed down her cheeks. She could move. For some reason, it just was not as easy as before. With a lot of effort she brought her hand all the way up and touched her wet cheek. Haruka's concentration was broken by the sound of a door opening.

"Fuck me."

Even if she was not looking, she would identify the speaker without any trouble. Daiki dashed for the bed and covered her body with his, as tears ran down the base of her neck. Daiki got up and wiped his tears away.

"You brainless halfwit! What the fuck is wrong with you? You and your stupid games!"

She smiled because through the angry expression on his face and the usual cursing she saw pure happiness in his eyes. She spoke in a hoarse voice that did not belong to her. "How long have you practiced that speech?"

He grew serious, locking his gaze with hers. "Eleven months."

"W-what?"

Daiki reached inside his pocket and retrieved a photograph he has been carrying since the day of the crash. He handed it to her and watched her eyes widen in shock. It looked as though her Enzo was literally cut in half. The front half was there, everything beyond the wall behind the seats was gone. The front bumper was twisted above the tire, most likely from the impact with the side of the hill. The passenger door was open.

"You're the luckiest bitch I've ever known in my life. If you were driving any other car, you would've never made it out of the burning inferno. Because your car's configuration takes after F1 cars, Clasco took down the engine with him, causing an explosion that burned the Mustang and the rear half of your car, while the cabin stayed intact."

The memories finally caught up with her. Haruka remembered taking a sharp turn and then the Mustang was on her passenger side. It was going so fast, she knew that no matter what she did the collision was imminent. All she could do was down the accelerator and pray. She did not remember if she had a chance to pray, but she must have had someone on her side because she was still here.

"Eleven months?" She whispered disbelievingly. The words tasted sour in her mouth.

Daiki sat down in the chair and nodded. "They fixed you up pretty well, considering your state, but they couldn't do anything to your head. Your brain was swollen from when you hit your head on an impact and they were afraid to touch it. Your condition stabilized, but you never opened your eyes. We all swore that we'd keep you here until the day you woke up, no matter how long it took."

"Here? We?" Haruka looked around again, picking her own brain and memory on where she was. The garden outside was familiar. The mansion. Haruka swallowed as cold vise spread around her heart. Haruka prayed to whatever god that kept her alive that Michiru was not stupid enough to go after Yasu. The immunity agreement Haruka had with Ichiro was never meant to extend to anyone else. Despite his niceties, he was a head of the yakuza clan and she was his sister. Haruka squeezed her eyes and cleared her throat again. "Where is Michiru?"

Daiki sighed, knowing perfectly well that it was not his face Haruka wanted to see when she opened her eyes. "I'm sorry, kid, she's not here."

Haruka closed her eyes, not wanting to see the sorrowful expression on his face. "Start from the beginning." The longer the story lasted, the longer she would delay the moment when the truth had to come out. She kept her eyes closed as he started retelling everything that happened on that eventful night. In that darkness behind her eyelids, the darkness that she tried to escape just minutes before, Haruka unmistakably recognized his voice as one of those she has been hearing for the past eleven months. It had the same quiet, sad tone.

**x x x  
**

The thick smell of smoke filled the night air and met Daiki's nostrils as he got out of his Lamborghini. He ran past the helicopter, ducking to avoid the blades, and around the sharp turn of the road. Wild fire raged to his right and he could barely see the shape of what used to be a Mustang and other misshaped form that he assumed was the remainder of the Enzo. His chest heaved from the lack of clean air and the fast run, his ears were filled with the pounding of his own heart, and he felt rooted to the ground. In another moment, the loud voices finally broke through the wall of shock that surrounded him.

"Is there something we can use to pry the door open?"

"Who has the medical kit?"

"We can try breaking the windshield."

"Come on people, we're losing valuable time."

He turned away from the fire and saw the racers trying to open the doors of the front half of the Enzo. The fact that he was looking at the front end of the Enzo that was pretty beat up, but semi-solid and not on fire finally settled in his mind and Daiki ran to it, pulling on the passenger door with other men. Inchiro appeared at his side in a flash.

"Is she alive?"

Daiki threw him a quick glance and continued pulling on the frame of the door, through the broken window. "Why don't you ask someone on her side?"

Ichiro mumbled something under his breath and Daiki was not sure if it was a curse or a prayer. "Does she have a pulse?" Ichiro's voice boomed over the commotion.

"Barely." Someone responded from the other side.

"Step away." Someone yelled directly behind Ichiro and both him and Daiki stepped away, letting the man with a crowbar successfully do what they failed at - pry the door open.

"Clasco…" Daiki did not take his eyes off of the car as he inquired quietly.

"He's been taken care of." Their gazes met and Daiki almost shivered from the cold black eyes that reeked of the depths of frozen hell.

"Careful… careful, make sure to support her neck. We need to take her to the helicopter."

"Kai, get the chopper ready."

"Got it. Fijiama, let Maedo know, find out where the hell he wants us to go."

"Roger that."

Daiki and Ichiro simultaneously broke their staring contest and ran for the helicopter. "Take my car back to Tokyo." Ichiro threw his keys to one of the men who operated cameras on the chopper.

"Mine too." Daiki handed his car keys to the same dumbfounded man and pushed him out of the helicopter.

**x x x  
**

"We've got a twenty-four year-old female, victim of a car crash. BP 110 over 60. She has a significant blood loss. There is a large laceration to her stomach, an open break on her left tibia, probably extensive internal damage."

"Book the OR, make sure they get Type B blood in there. I also need a head scan, she probably had a blunt trauma." Sayuri let the nurses and interns take the gurney towards the OR and span around, extending her hands to both sides. "Where do you think you two are going?"

Both Ichiro and Daiki stopped in their tracks and looked at the angry doctor. "We're going with her." Daiki insisted.

"No, you're not. Go to the waiting room, I'll let you know what's going on when I get a handle on it." She saw Daiki open his mouth and raised her hand to silence him. "Do not interfere with my work." Sure that he would not argue, Sayuri stormed off after her patent.

"Ah, I miss that woman. It's always been so fun to see her put you in your place like a schoolboy." Ichiro smirked.

Daiki quietly turned around and found his way to the waiting room. The two of them sat in silence, both consumed by the dark thoughts of losing the woman whose life Sayuri was fighting to save. A shrill of a phone interrupted the silence.

"You're supposed to have those turned off in a hospital." Daiki threw at Ichiro, who did not bother to respond.

"Hello?"

"_Is this Wada Ichiro?"_

"It is. Who's asking?"

"_My name is Hanz van Ludwig. I've been instructed by Tenoh Haruka to contact you in the event of something happening to her."_

"I'm listening."

"_I'm the man in charge of keeping an eye on Wada Nori. He has been living with a foster family in Germany for the past two years, until he was taken to Spain by his father a month ago. My orders were to never lose sight of him and to inform you in Tenoh-sama's absence that the boy is your nephew. I am also to follow your order in regards to my next action."_

"Heh. Wada Nori you say?" Ichiro could not hope for Yasu to give him a better hint as to her future plans but to name her child the way she did. [AN: "Nori" means "to rule"]. "Arrange for the child to be brought to Tokyo. Contact me at this number when everything is set."

"_Yes, sir."_

Ichiro pocketed his phone and stared into space. He could not believe that he missed something as big as that. Yasu did give birth and she was planning for her son to take his place. She has been planning it all along, ever since she came back from Europe. She has been manipulating him his entire life. Whereas Haruka, Haruka kept his interests in mind even when their relationship was severed.

A phone rang again and this time Ichiro cocked an eyebrow at Daiki, who grimaced and pulled the cell out of his jacket.

"Yes?"

"_Sanu-sama, I'm sorry to bother you at such a late hour, but there's been an accident that seems to require your attention."_

"How so?"

"_It happened outside of Tokyo, but one of the cars involved was registered to Takeushi Hayate, an arrest warrant has been issued in his name in connection with the Wing of Night."_

"What's the location of the accident?"

"_Eh… It's not exactly in Tokyo…"_

"E-mail me the address and make sure that no one touches the scene before I get there."

"_Yes, General-san."_

"It always amazed me how you can lie without so much as twitching." Ichiro, who was listening to one side of the conversation attentively, commented.

"It always amazed me how you can kill someone and not even blink when you confess to the fact."

"That's just it… I'm not confessing, I'm stating a fact. Besides, you of all people should understand murder as an act that does not always involve emotions, Sanu."

"Emotions are easy not to be spared when you don't have to deal with the aftermath of your own actions. I'm gonna go clean up your mess."

"Don't you worry about me. That hill was pretty steep and I'm sure there are vultures and other hungry species at the bottom or wherever it is our friend's remains have ended up at. I would recommend for Haru's sake, though, that your medical team concludes that both bodies have burned up in that inferno."

Daiki's head was playing the images Ichiro drew a bit too vividly for his taste. He shook his head and got up. "I'll see what I can do."

Ichiro got up as well. "Are you coming back here?"

"Of course."

Ichiro nodded. "When they stabilize her, bring Haruka and Sayuri to my place in Tokyo - she can't stay in a hospital, even I can't provide cover for her this outwardly. I will arrange for proper equipment to be delivered to my mansion, she should be safe there while she's recovering."

"You're leaving?"

The thoughts that ran through Ichiro's head, the pain he felt somewhere deep inside his being did not reflect on the outside, as usual. "I have to prepare the house for her arrival. There is some cleaning I need to take care of."

**x x x  
**

Daiki used the same helicopter to get back to the small town at the base of the mountain. Some of his men, the ones who always accompanied him to the races, already took care of bringing his official car. Daiki climbed in the unmarked SUV and drove to the scene of the accident for the second time that night.

This time around, the dark sky was filled with a multicolor glow of the emergency lights. Daiki parked to the side of the road and made his way to the area that was now taped off.

"What do we have here?"

The leading officers took him around the all too-familiar scene and Daiki noticed that someone has already taken measures to make it look like there were no survivors. The front of Haruka's car was added to the pile of burned metal and looked not much different from the rest. Daiki figured that someone lit it on fire to make it look like the entire Enzo burned as a result of the crash.

"By the time the fire trucks got here, the cars pretty much burned down, so there isn't much left. The interiors of both cars are gone, so are the bodies. We're riding under the assumption that the fire was so intense that it cremated the drivers. Judging by the intensity of the flame both cars probably had close to full tanks of gas when they collided." The officer gestured to different parts of the black mangled pile as he spoke.

Daiki knew that the tanks were not full and that there was no way the bodies would have disappeared completely if they were present in the cars, but he was not about to argue. So far everything was going better than expected. "How are we involved in this again?"

"We were able to run both cars by the VIN numbers. This one over here used to be a Ford Mustang registered to Clasco Aden, a businessman from Tokyo. The other one used to be an Enzo Ferrari registered to Takeushi Hayate, also of Tokyo. There is an outstanding warrant for Takeushi-san's arrest in connection with the car accident about five months ago in Osaka and the Wing of Night."

Daiki walked around the pile pretending to analyze it and wondering to himself for the umpteenth time how anyone could have ever survived that crash. "Okay. So is this a result of one of those races?" He returned to the officer who was in charge of the investigation and stood by his side.

"We would like to say so, but it's really inconsistent with what the Wing of Night has been doing up to now. As you know, General-san, they've been hosting drag races on the streets and highways of Tokyo, there never have been any reports of races held so far out. Besides, there are no tire marks on the surface, which leads us to believe that the Mustang must have had problems with its breaks on the way down the hill. We are still investigating what either man was doing here in the middle of the night."

Daiki nodded. "Good work. Let me know when you find out anything else and this pile can be cleaned out. Also, notify their next of kin. I'm going to take a look around."

"Yes, sir." The officer bowed and left to deliver Daiki's orders.

Daiki walked around the scene, making sure that nothing was out of place. The scene was prepped perfectly, as was expected from his crew. Daiki's job as a Wing was to protect the gang and the club, both from the preemptive perspective and an actual coverup in case of emergency. By protocol, his men had to clean up the scene of any accident and make it look like it was just that - an accident unrelated to any racing activity. Usually Daiki himself took care to oversee that process, but today he jumped on board of the helicopter not giving any second thought to what had to be done at the scene. It was obvious that his men did a very good job. Daiki stopped at the edge of the road and looked down at the steep side of the mountain. Somewhere down there lay Clasco's unburned body. He could not see much in the dark and was hoping that the body was out of sight in the daylight.

Daiki left the scene after giving further orders when his presence was no longer required. He drove back into town and met with his men. After going over what was done at the scene and instructing them to check and make sure that no other evidence was visible in the daylight, Daiki was dropped off at the helicopter again.

"How long do I have to fly you back and forth, exactly?"

Daiki looked at the pilot and put on a pair of headphones. "Now and then back to Tokyo, Kai. Stop bitching, it's not like you have to be back at work until the day after tomorrow."

Kai shook his head and turned on the blades. Daiki looked at the picture he was given by his crew, showing the front of Enzo after the accident, but before it was burned. He had an uneasy feeling, but decided to shake it off until he was back in the hospital's waiting room.

**x x x  
**

Ichiro left the hospital and took a taxi to the airport. He sent directions to his pilot to bring Ichiro's jet to Osaka a while back and was not sure whether it was already there or not. It did not really matter, he was not in a rush. Ichiro wanted to have some time to think. He was not an impulsive person, with the exception of that dreadful morning when he acted completely out of character and shot his father. Since then, he learned to hold whatever emotions he had left and to never act on them. Though he would have to take swift action, he wanted to take some time and think what he was about to do thoroughly.

The jet was waiting for its only passenger when Ichiro reached the airport, so he was on his way to Tokyo without any delay. Sipping on his black coffee, Ichiro watched the darkness outside of the window and wondered what Yasu was doing at the same time. He doubted that Aden followed Yasu's orders, it looked like he was instigated by her, which is what she did best. Yasu knew that something was about to happen, it explained the strange aura she had about her when Ichiro stopped by the mansion on the way to the race. If only he listened to his instinct. Though, that would not have changed much, he still would not have known what she was planning. She herself probably did not know the details of what Aden planned. Beating himself up for what happened to Haruka was a waste of time, time that would be better spent contemplating what had to be done about Yasu.

Most days Ichiro felt that he has lived for a lot longer than his twenty-five years. Especially so since his mother died and he was involved in business. He has been doing his fare share to support the clan for over ten years now and his life did not have a routine. He was solving problems day and night and sometimes it felt like in a span of one day he accomplished years worth of progress. Naturally he had obstacles along his way, but somehow the largest one he has encountered to date was his own sister. From as long as he could remember he thought that she was the one person in his life who he could love, protect, care for, and get the same in return. In the end, they were related by blood, they lived through the same hardships of being raised within Wada family, and they both were born into a yakuza clan. He thought they would be the closest people on earth. He could not have been any more wrong.

For a while he thought that despite being older, Yasu was weaker and more emotional, so she was unable to deal with things the same way he could. He protected her from their mother, he protected her in school, he stood by her side. He took her side against a word of his friend, against the man who gave him life. Ichiro made many mistakes because he believed Yasu, because he allowed himself to be fooled under the vise of his delusional notions. Where did that get him? It got him to this lonely place, where his sister was scheming against him.

Back when Haruka wanted revenge against Yasu, Ichiro felt that her desire to hurt Yasu more so than to kill her was misplaced. Death is an instrument used to rid of problems, at least in Ichiro's view. He did not disagree that Yasu had become a problem and he was willing to allow Haruka to kill Yasu. However, now he knew exactly how Haruka felt and why she did what she did. Murder may be committed in many ways, but instantaneous death gives no satisfaction to the murderer, it simply puts an end. There is no closure in it. Ichiro knew that perfectly well, he just never felt the need to have a closure before. This time was different.

Ichiro was going to take a special pleasure in his act and no one would stand in his way. Haruka called him 'Death' after he started sharing with her some of the things that weighed on his chest. Ichiro was not only skillful, but he also treated murder as an art. He knew every inch of human body, knew every process that takes place in that body and how any body can be affected by different means. To him, torture was an extension of death, a preamble to passing. He only used it when he needed information, but he always found masterful ways to get what he needed and get it fast. To get his point across, he often orchestrated beautiful, in his mind, executions that terrified his targets and the public because of their gruesomeness and severity. The nightmares composed of the images of dismembered bodies and bloody corpses that deprived him of sleep for many years were a private matter, one he has only shared with Haruka. He found that dropping that weight relieved him of the images, since he never had any regrets to be relieved of, for a while. Yasu took that away from him, for the second time.

Ichiro shook off his thoughts as the wheels hit the landing strip and set down his empty cup. He waited for the plane to taxi and for the door to open before he descended and got in the tinted Mercedes that he used to commute around town. He gave the orders to his driver and watched the scenery behind the pane of the glass, feeling the anticipation build up inside.

**x x x  
**

Daiki's eyes were slowly closing, despite the two cups of coffee he had in the past hour. The sound of an opening door brought him right out of his daze and he jumped to his feet, meeting Sayuri halfway. She looked exhausted, she did not even bother to remove her bloody cover-ups.

"How is she?"

"Alive." She motioned for him to follow her and walked out of the nearest exit. Sayuri grabbed a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from the top of the doorframe and lit one up.

"You're so desperate to smoke you keep cigarettes around the building now?"

She exhaled slowly away from him. "I've always done that. Saves time." She turned to face him and inhaled another lungful. "I don't think there are any organs in that girl's body that I haven't seen. There was extensive internal damage, we did the best we could with it. She lost a lot of blood and she's extremely weak, but stable."

Daiki watched her closely and he really did not like how worried she was, despite saying that everything went well. Her hands never shook, which was her best ability as a surgeon, yet he could tell her state by the way she smoked and avoided his eyes. On the other hand, that could have been the result of how they parted last time. He sure hoped it was the latter.

"What are you not saying?"

She put the cigarette butt in the disposal and stripped the bloody cover-ups off of her scrubs, placing them in a large trash can on the side of the door. He has not seen her for less than a week, yet she seemed to have lost weight in those few days. Her scrubs seemed a bit big and he could see how much more pronounced her collarbone was.

"It may be a bit early to tell, I'm certainly going to wait for the anesthesia to wear off before I make any conclusions, but she might be in a coma. There is swelling in her brain, which indicates that there was head trauma."

The relief Daiki felt from the knowledge that the surgery went well and that Haruka was in recovery evaporated completely. He knew too many people that never woke up from a coma and the notion of watching Haruka lay in bed indefinitely terrified him. "I need you to prep her to be transported back to Tokyo."

Sayuri, who was lighting another cigarette, dropped the lighter. "Are you out of your mind? She can't be moved right now, especially not by air!"

"We'll fly low. If the pressure within her scull increases, you can always relieve it."

"Did you hit your head as well or is this your natural stupidity coming through?" Sayuri made an effort not to yell. "I can't take an ICU patient that is weak as it is and put her on a helicopter. I also cannot drill into her scull in a moving helicopter even if I was insane enough to get her out of here. I'm a doctor, not a killer."

"Sayuri, you are the best doctor I know who deals with vast injuries under pressure, that's why you helped the club for so many years. You helped people who needed ER in your house, for goodness sake! We already flew Haruka here and she's fine. She's better off now and we can't leave her here. It's obvious that she's a victim of a car crash, it won't take long to connect the dots. There is a warrant for her arrest, she can't stay here. If she does, she's as good as dead when she wakes up. Don't you get it?"

She did get it, she just did not want to risk Haruka's life. "You know how many laws I'll be breaking by doing this?"

"Is that even an argument?"

"In my book." She picked up the lighter and put it back on top of the door frame. "I need you to come through the front door, introduce yourself properly, and take charge of my patient as a witness to a crime. That way we can avoid all paperwork and it won't be as suspicious as it is now. I will accompany you to Tokyo, but I will do so because I owe Haruka, not because I'm doing you a favor."

"Whatever gets the job done."

**x x x  
**

Ichiro was informed of the presence of an intruder as soon as he got out of the Mercedes. He stealthily made his way in the direction given to him by his men. It did not occur to Ichiro that Michiru would have the guts and be foolish enough to go after his sister until he stood in the library door, unnoticed by either woman. He quietly watched Yasu cut Michiru's face, knew that she was toying around. Michiru, however, decided to try and retrieve the gun, which made Yasu lose all interest in games. As she expertly raised her katana for the final strike, Ichiro retrieved the gun he used earlier that night to kill his sister's former lover. Without any hesitation he shot through the hand that was holding the sword, making Yasu release it. As the heavy sharp object fell to the floor, its edge cut the back side of Michiru's neck. Ichiro did not know if it was the combination of feeling the pain in her neck and the sight of Yasu's blood splaying all over Michiru or something else, but the violinist fainted, landing on the floor next to the katana.

"What did you do?" Yasu was on the floor, several feet away from Michiru, holding her right hand with her healthy left. Blood oozed from the wound in the palm of her hand, yet Ichiro was not sure if she could even feel the pain. It definitely did not reflect in her eyes, they were simply wild. She was about to eliminate another person on her list and he got in the way. She must have known what was coming to her, yet she did not seem to care.

As for Ichiro himself, he was pissed. The many ways he pictured enjoying Yasu's death did not include a third party and he was eternally grateful that Michiru was not skillful enough to get in his way and deprive him of an opportunity to kill Yasu personally.

"You girls are having a party without me, how inconsiderate." He looked at Michiru and saw that she was regaining consciousness. "Uh uh uhh." He shook his head at Yasu, who was eying the katana. "A bullet is a lot faster than crippled you. Stay where you are." He pointed the gun at Michiru. "Get up."

She complied and unsteadily rose to her feet. Ichiro looked from one bleeding woman to the other and smiled. "Now, let's see how we can make this more fun."


	34. Sunset

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated **"M"** for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

* * *

**Chapter 34**

**Sunset**

The tips of Michiru's fingers reached the polymer surface of the gun when drops of blood rained on her outstretched arm. Mechanically, she grabbed the Beretta as her body fully landed on the floor, darkness releasing her eyes from the bloody scene. She regained consciousness momentarily and a stinging pain, similar to the one coming from her cheekbone spread through the side of her neck. Michiru placed her left hand there and saw that it was covered in blood. She could feel it coming from the large cut on the back side of her neck. She was not dead, though. Her right hand squeezed tighter around the handle of the gun. Michiru focused her blurry vision and saw Ichiro standing in the door with his hand raised. A hand that was holding a gun.

"You girls are having a party without me, how inconsiderate."

His stingy words reached her ears and she shivered as his eyes fell on her.

"Uh uh uhh." He looked away and shook his head. "A bullet is a lot faster than crippled you. Stay where you are."

Michiru was still trying to collect herself when a gun was pointed back at her. "Get up." She complied and unsteadily rose to her feet. Ichiro looked from one bleeding woman to the other and smiled. "Now, let's see how we can make this more fun."

Michiru gathered the remainder of her strength and looked up at him with whatever determination was left in her system. She was okay with dying, so long as she took Yasu with her. She figured that Ichiro wounding Yasu was a good indication that he was not particularly on his sister's side.

After some consideration, it occurred to Ichiro that Michiru's presence was not such a bad thing. He could even use it to intimidate Yasu more. It was obvious to him that Michiru would have never been able to get revenge against Yasu because Yasu was more capable in many respects. However, he was a mechanism to turn the tables.

"She's all yours." Ichiro's eyes found the ocean blues that suddenly became terrified.

"W-what?"

"You came here to avenge Haruka, I'm giving you that chance. She's all yours." Ichiro lowered his gun to the side and pointed at the one Michiru was still holding.

Michiru all of a sudden felt like all that resolve, all the anger that brought her to this room were no longer enough. The adrenalin rush of immediate danger has passed. She would have shot Yasu, she had no doubt, if she had an opportunity just a moment ago. Now, however, the strong, confident, fearless woman was not standing in front of her with a menacing blade. No, there was a hurt, sick, pathetic woman sitting on the floor. She no longer looked like someone who could make harm, she was harmed herself. Her pale white skin contrasted sharply with the black silk of the kimono and the red speckles of blood. She almost looked like a beautiful victim of some samurai movie. Michiru swallowed and found that her hand was shaking.

Ichiro saw the struggle written all over Michiru's face, as well as the humiliation in his sister's features that soon was replaced by victory, as Yasu too saw Michiru's hesitation. Ichiro sighed internally and gave it another shot. "Don't make the same mistake I did. She's not weak, she's not sorry, she won't change. She arranged your beating, took your calling away from you, and then she arranged for your girlfriend to be taken away from you. Just because tears are falling from her eyes, it doesn't mean that she can feel them the way you do."

He was right. As long as Yasu lived, she would only bring sorrow to people. She already took Haruka away from Michiru, she took her music away. Michiru had nothing to live for anymore. What did it matter if she went to hell? She was sure that was where Haruka ended up anyway, and Michiru had to join her there. She raised her shaking hand and pulled the trigger. Michiru shut her eyes as the gun fired and she felt its full force, all the way through her arm. As the other shots followed, she did not even realize that the Beretta she held laid on the floor.

Ichiro expertly emptied the remainder of his magazine in the same spot, tearing through his sister's body, never once breaking the eye contact with her. When the clicking noise told him that the gun was finally empty, he walked up to Yasu's still half-sitting form and kneeled on her side. Yasu let go of her wounded hand long ago and now both of her shaking hands were covering the wound to her midsection. She lowered herself down to the floor and just looked at him, still not believing in what he did. The red blood from the wound in her hand mixed in with the black blood coming out of where her liver used to be.

"You always knew how to make someone suffer before they died." She choked as blood reached her throat and turned her head sideways.

"Unlike you, I don't torture the living." He grabbed her chin and turned her head to face him again. They both knew that she would not last more than a few minutes, he did not have to shoot her through the heart to kill her. First, he wanted to give Michiru power to execute Yasu, to let Yasu feel helpless. Then, he wanted to give her time to realize that she was dying and that there was no turning back, there was no other option. Yasu would bleed out, even if she was in a hospital. Then, he had a few thoughts he wanted to share. "Just so you know, I'm bringing Nori home."

Her eyes widened in surprise and then a lopsided smile appeared on her bloody mouth. She never expected Haruka to follow through with her threat of telling Ichiro about Yasu's son if something ever happened to her. She remembered Haruka promising her that she would and that Ichiro would kill Yasu himself when he found out. Haruka was right, he did. Yasu laughed, coughing occasionally.

"What's so funny?"

"You're always being played by women. You were right, I underestimated Haruka. Not only did she use you to get rid of me, but she did it after her death. It's genius. I sure have to kiss her when I get to hell."

"Did I forget to tell you, Ya? You won't see Haru in hell… Haru is alive."

"What?"

"What?"

Both women gasped almost in unison. Ichiro gently removed a strand of hair from Yasu's face, enjoying the expression in her eyes with every fiber of his being. "You never knew how to do due diligence. Haruka survived the crash, as did your boyfriend. He, however, will be waiting for you wherever it is you're headed. Haru will stick with us around here. All in all, I'd say it's not too bad. I no longer have to worry about you, I have a friend and now I have an heir. An heir who will never know his mother, who will not so much as honor her memory. Thank you, Yasu. Thank you for finally doing something good for me. If only for once in your life." He kissed her forehead and got up, leaving her breathing hard on the floor.

Michiru still stood in shock, unable to move, unable to comprehend what was going on. Ichiro picked up the Beretta at her feet and put it in his holster. "Michiru." She did not respond, but kept staring at the dying woman. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Michiru, we need to take care of your wounds before you bleed out."

She finally realized that he was talking to her. "I- I- I killed her."

Ichiro looked in the wild blue eyes and sighed. "No, I killed her. You killed my computer." He pointed to the screen that had a hole through its center. "Just because you fire a gun, doesn't mean people will jump to catch the bullet, you have to actually aim first."

He took her arm and pulled her towards the door. Michiru followed him mechanically, her eyes never leaving the half-closed black ones, not until she was out of the room. The hallway was full of men in suits, aligned on both sides. Michiru wondered if they were there all along or if they came because Ichiro told them to.

"Take care of her cuts." He placed her in the hands of another man and Michiru was taken away.

"Wait."

Ichiro turned at the half-cry and patiently waited for whatever it was she wanted to say.

"Is it true?" The meaning of his words suddenly became clear. "What you said about Haruka? Is she alive?"

"Yes, she is. They'll bring her here after they stabilize her, so go worry about yourself."

Michiru smiled through her tears, still not believing everything that just happened. "Thank you."

"I didn't do it for you."

"Thank you anyway."

He watched her go and then turned to his men. "We'll have some guests, arrange three bedrooms, make one of them resemble a hospital room. Get all the equipment a doctor may need. Tighten the security around here, make sure that no one gets in or out without my knowledge. Cut the tree branches along the perimeter, make sure that there is no easy way in. I will also need you to dispose of Yasu's body, just give me a few minutes."

"Yes, Wada-sama." The men scattered around, following his orders.

Ichiro walked back to the library and crouched next to his sister's body. "You're as stubborn as ever. Won't you die already?"

"You lied to her." Yasu whispered. She could feel the energy leaving her body.

"Hm?"

She moved her arm to expose another wound on her stomach. It was a single whole and the dark folds of the kimono covered the flesh. The blood was barely visible on the black surface of the fabric. "She shot me, you shot the screen when you fired first. You lied to her… why?"

Ichiro smirked. "I don't want her to become like you. Haru deserves better."

"Since when do you care so much about Haruka?"

"Since I've realized that she's the only person in this world who has ever given a damn about me. I forgave you for who you are, Ya, and you still turned on me. I used to think that I can tolerate it because you're my sister, but even you don't have the right to step over me." He moved her hands away from the wound he inflicted and put the palm of his hand on it. With every passing word, he increased the pressure, making her scream in silence, no longer able to make a single sound. "You have become nothing but an obstacle in my way. I should have done this when I found out your true nature. You're right, we truly are related. The differences are... I am sane... and you are dead."

The blood flowed freely over his rigid hand. Yasu's eyes widened slightly with the last wave of pain, the last silent scream. Her body jerked and then relaxed completely, her eyes still open. The reflection of her empty eyes in his was what she took with her forever.

Ichiro took his jacket off and wiped his hand. As on cue, three of his men walked into the room. "Take her to the morgue, arrange for a funeral. The official cause of death is suicide. She has finally succumbed to a life-long illness and took her own life, so that she no longer had to suffer." His mocking tone disappeared, replaced by an irritated one. "And clean this god damn room."

**x x x  
**

After her wounds were cleaned and stitched, Michiru was shown to a bedroom on the second floor. It was spacious and had a beautiful view of the garden, the outlines of which she could see in the predawn hour. Michiru walked to the window and tried to trace her earlier mad run through the garden with her eyes. It seemed as though it was either a lifetime ago or it was a dream. Only the bandages around her face and neck and the blood splattered all over her clothes reminded her that it was reality. She turned as someone knocked on the door.

"Kaioh-sama, here are some clean clothes for you to change into." The maid set the clothes on the bed and bowed her way out of the room.

"Thank you."

Michiru looked at the folded kimono and wondered if it used to belong to Yasu.

"It doesn't matter." She grabbed the garment and walked into the bathroom that was adjacent to the bedroom. She took a hot shower, making sure that her bandages did not get wet. At some point tears mixed in with the water. The images kept flashing through her mind, starting with the explosion and ending with the torn body laying in a pool of blood. She was eternally grateful to Ichiro for what he did because she could not even imagine how she would deal with killing another human being. Thinking that she wanted Yasu dead and even planning how to do it was one thing, taking her life was something entirely different. Michiru still remembered the nightmares Haruka had after she inadvertently caused death of three people in a car accident, she did not know how she herself would deal with killing someone.

**x x x  
**

"How is she?" Ichiro watched as two of his men carried Haruka in on a stretcher while a third held an array of IV drips.

"She would have been much better if she stayed in a hospital." Sayuri followed her patient in.

"We've had this conversation over and over, Abe-sensei." An exhausted Daiki was right behind.

"You could have kept her there under an alias, at least for a few days."

"Would you quit it already!" Daiki threw his hands upwards and caught up with the maid who was showing them to the room.

Ichiro watched the interaction indifferently, but threw a glance at Daiki's retreating figure. "Back to my original question?"

Sayuri sighed and slowly walked with him towards the stairs. "We took care of the internal bleeding, there is some damage to her organs, but nothing that time won't heal."

"I can't believe she got off with just a few light injuries."

"She didn't."

"Oh?"

They reached the bedroom door, only to be pushed away by Michiru, who was making her way through. "Haruka! Haruka?" Michiru snuck between the occupants of the room as Haruka was placed on the bed. Tears streamed down her cheeks. As with many other things that happened that night, Michiru could not believe that Haruka was really there, alive. "Is she sleeping?"

"Sort of." Both Ichiro and Michiru looked up to Sayuri. "She's in a coma."

**x x x  
**

An hour later Haruka was settled in the room, connected to everything she needed to be connected to. Against everyone's wishes, they were escorted to the dining room on the first floor and fed breakfast per Ichiro's orders.

"Michiru, after you finish your meal, a car will take you wherever you need to go so that you can get your things. You are welcome to stay here with Haruka for as long as it takes for her to recover."

Michiru simply acknowledged his kindness by nodding her head. Ichiro sipped on his coffee and turned to Sayuri who was sitting across from him. "You will also be staying here until Haru recovers."

"Excuse me?"

"She needs medical care and you will provide her with the best she needs. For her and your safety, it will be better if you stay here while taking care of her."

"I'm sorry, maybe you are not aware of the fact, but I live in Osaka now."

"I'm well aware of that fact."

"Then you should know that your proposition is impossible."

"I wasn't proposing or asking."

Sayuri pushed her chair backwards and got up. "Maybe you forgot since we haven't seen each other in a while, Wada, but no one tells me what to do. You can't just make me come to Tokyo and stay here."

Ichiro wiped his mouth with a napkin. "No, he can't." Ichiro pointed at Daiki who quietly observed their one-sided argument. "I can do whatever the hell I want. This is not a race, this is not the Wing of Night… This is everyday life and in everyday life people do what I tell them to. I don't care if you stay for humanitarian reasons to take care of your friend or if I have to keep you here by force, but you're not going anywhere either way."

Sayuri stared at him with her mouth wide open. Helpless, she turned to Daiki.

"Now you want my help? Sorry, Abe-sensei, but I don't have any standing in this argument." He got up and bowed to Ichiro. "Thank you for the meal and for taking her in. May I visit?"

"Just don't attract too much attention."

"Absolutely." Daiki shared a look with Michiru and nodded a goodbye to her. Without another glance at Sayuri, he left the dining room and the mansion.

"You really are a much more despicable man than I thought you to be." Sayuri finally lowered her voice.

"I don't hide who I am. I'm sorry that you had to end up on the other end of the stick, but that's just how life works. Your room is adjacent to Haru's on the right. Michiru's is on the left. If there is anything you need, let a maid or one of my men know." He got up and turned to Michiru. "Same goes for you." He looked at one of the men who sat in the living room. A tall, well-built brunette man caught the glance and came in. "This is Foron, my right-hand man. Under the circumstances, he will personally escort you around while you gather your belongings."

Michiru, despite still being in shock, realized that arguing with Ichiro was pointless. He definitely was a very different man from the one she shared a dinner with, different from the one who came to her hospital room, the one who hang out around Haruka. She finally understood what he meant when he was warning her about the differences between her world and his. Only she still believed that Haruka was more like her and less like him.

"Thank you. I only need to stop by two places."

**x x x  
**

The first stop Michiru made was at the apartment. She gathered the belongings she brought over not even a week ago, grabbed her violin and drawing supplies, and some of Haruka's clothes. The only other place she intended to stop at was the bank.

"Good Morning, may I help you?" A bank clerk greeted her from behind the counter.

"Good Morning, I need access to a security box."

"What is the number?"

She looked at the credit card Haruka handed her a while back and read the last four digits. The clerk looked strangely at her. "And your name?"

"Kaioh Michiru."

"This way please, Kaioh-san."

She was escorted to a door, where another bank employee took her through a hallway and let her through the second door. She found herself in a room that had nothing but a stainless steel table in the middle and two chairs on each side. The walls around the room were filled with steel doors and numbers.

"It will be on your left. Please let me know if you require any further assistance."

"Thank you."

She waited for him to leave the room and then walked up to the door with the number she needed. She used the code on the back of the card to unlock it. Michiru did not know what she was expecting to see. What she found was a stack of papers, envelopes, keys, and two cellphones. Michiru carefully took everything out and set it on the table. Both phones were turned on, but neither had any contacts in it. Only one number was incoming and outgoing on each. After some consideration, curiosity won over and Michiru hit redial on one of the phones.

"_Who the hell is this?"_

Michiru flinched from the angry voice on the other end of the line. "Sayuri?"

"_Michiru? Why are you calling me?"_

"I was going through Haruka's things… I guess I just wanted to make sure that this was not something she needed."

"_I don't think she'll be needing to call me for a while."_

"…"

"_I'm sorry, Michiru, I'm just a bit stressed." _

"So am I. I'll see you back at the mansion." Michiru shut her eyes closed. "Do you need anything?"

"_If I do, I'll make them take care of it. Thank you for the offer, though."_

"You're welcome."

Michiru hang up and pondered if she should even bother dialing the other number. She tried, but it was never answered.

'So much for curiosity.' Michiru turned both phones off and set them aside. She opened the large envelope that was on top of the pile and pulled out a set of photographs and some papers. Her eyes widened as she stared at a picture of a blonde toddler. Her initial reaction was that the boy must have been Haruka's son. He had similar features, but as she went through the pictures, it seemed less and less possible. Haruka would never ship her child off to somewhere, not after being alone for so long in her life. The papers included with the photographs took the rest of her doubts away, as Michiru read through the twelve-page report on Wada Nori.

The rest of the pile contained passports and credit cards in different names, assorted currency, documents on bank accounts and properties around the world, and so on and so forth. Michiru left two hours later, unsure if she learned more about Haruka in that visit or if all the information she learned made her pose more questions.

**x x x  
**

The symbolic funeral for the victims of the car crash that made the national news was held three days later. The event served as the first meeting between Michiru and her mother since the warrant for arrest was issued in Haruka's name. Eiko found out what happened through Hideo and was under the impression that Haruka died until she saw Michiru and knew that the tears and the grief were as much of an act as Michiru's social life used to be.

Michiru gave Eiko a nutshell version of what happened on her way out of the cemetery, while pretending to cry on her mother's shoulder. They both agreed that it was in Haruka and Michiru's best interests if Eiko and Michiru did not maintain contact for a while, in order to avoid any snooping from Hideo. Neither woman expected to have to avoid contact for almost a year. To Eiko, not being able to see her daughter whenever she felt like it and being under constant surveillance from her husband felt like she lost both her freedom and her daughter. She has been visiting the grave once a week for eleven months, praying that Haruka would wake up and some semblance of normalcy would return to their lives.

**x x x  
**

Daiki came to visit Haruka for the first time after the mock funeral. He did not feel particularly comfortable coming to the Wada mansion, especially considering that he had come in contact with many men employed by Ichiro in his official capacity. Needless to say, those who have been arrested by him before did not have the same disposition as those whose crimes he overlooked. Daiki squared his shoulders and walked through the front door, not bothering to acknowledge the men who guarded it.

He was escorted upstairs and found Sayuri lounging on the loveseat in Haruka's room. She pretended not to notice his presence. Daiki walked up to the bed and looked at Haruka's peaceful face. She had an oxygen mask on and there were quite a few scratches, but her expression was peaceful, as though she was taking the rest he knew she often lacked. Perhaps she was catching up on the time she did not get a chance to sleep in her childhood.

"Are there any changes?"

Sayuri kept looking through the magazine in her hands and ignoring him. Daiki walked up to her and ripped the magazine out of her hands. "I don't give a shit if you're pissed at me or Wada, but don't ignore me when I ask you about how Haruka is!"

Sayuri raised an eyebrow. "Or what, you're going to beat the crap out of me?"

His eyes narrowed and he grabbed both of her arms, bringing her to her feet. The swift motion that shook her entire body brought a chain Sayuri was wearing from underneath her top. She gasped as Daiki grabbed the chain and brought it closer, inspecting the ring that hang off of it. He simultaneously let go of her and the ring and walked out of the room. On an impulse, Sayuri followed him.

"This is not what you think."

He spun around. "What _do_ I think? Enlighten me because I myself don't have a fucking clue!"

She stopped in front of him, unsure of what to say or why she even ran after him.

"For the past week I've heard nothing but how much you detest me and this whole time you've been wearing the ring I gave you. What am I supposed to feel? What am I supposed to think, huh?"

"I don't detest you. All I asked for was time."

"Time? We were together for over two years, we were apart for five months. If you haven't figured out how you feel about me by now, there ain't any point in waiting. When I left that ring on the table, I closed that chapter in my life. I put everything I had out and you rejected me, so I drove back, I drank it off and I never intended to see you again. Even I have feelings, Sayuri, and you walked all over them. The only reason I went to Osaka was because Haruka needed you and there wasn't time to look for someone else we could trust." He stopped his tirade and took a deep breath. "If you want nothing to do with me, then let me go. Don't play the carrot and the stick."

He turned around and left before she was able to move.

**x x x  
**

Sayuri came back into the room and curled up on the loveseat. Her fingers absentmindedly played with the ring. She put it on a chain when she got home the day Daiki visited her because despite everything she told him, she was not ready to let go. Anger helped her deal with someone else controlling her life, but the fact remained that she was the one who messed it all up. She had her chance, she got what she wanted, and she was afraid to take it. She hugged her knees as tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. She was so engrossed in her own misery that she did not feel another presence until a pair of arms circled themselves around her waist.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn? You push me away and then you cry in solitude. Don't you know how much that hurts me? How much your pain hurts me?"

She turned around and found his lips on hers. This time she did not pull away. Daiki's hands traveled up her body and opened the lock on the chain. Without letting go of her lips he removed the ring and placed it on Sayuri's finger.

"I will not ask you again. I'll just show you that I mean it." He picked her up and threw a quick glance at Haruka, half-expecting to see her sitting in bed grinning. To his disappointment, she was as still as when he walked in. Daiki pushed the door open and carried Sayuri into her room.

**x x x  
**

"So they moved in. Sayuri felt like she was under a house arrest, Michiru simply would not leave your side. We were all hoping that you'd come back as soon as the swelling in your brain went down, but you didn't. Eventually Sayuri disconnected you from the machines, only leaving what was necessary. Wada let her go after a few months, figuring that she wouldn't go far. She went back to work at her old hospital. I sold the flat and we bought a house."

"Did you marry her?"

"No. She said that you brought us together twice. She wants you at our wedding."

"What if I never woke up?"

"Then we would've lived in sin for the rest of our lives. It's nothing new. I'll never let her go whether we're married or not."

Haruka smiled. "I'm glad to see that you finally grew up."

"Fuck you."

She laughed. "What about the Wing of Night?"

Daiki sighed. "I disbanded it. There were only two of us left and we both agreed to uphold the provision of disbanding the club upon an occurrence of deadly accident. No one knows that Clasco didn't die as a result of the accident outside of the chosen few. Many members took it pretty bad, but no one raised objections over the rules. I got rid of all evidence of its existence. By the way, I let Hiro run your shop as just that - a mechanic's shop. He buried himself in work to deal with your absence and the shop is doing surprisingly well."

Haruka half-smiled. "I always knew that that kid can do whatever he wants, so long as he sets his mind to it."

"Apparently." Daiki studied her for a moment. "Why are you delaying the inevitable?"

"Huh?"

"Don't 'huh' me, you know what I'm talking about."

Haruka sighed and slowly readjusted the pillow behind herself. Every move came with a great effort. "How does it feel to commit?

"To commit… are you talking about me and Sayuri?"

"Yes."

"It doesn't feel like you lose your freedom, if that's what you're concerned about. It feels like you have someone to share your life with, someone you belong with. It's different, but now that I have it, I don't want to go back."

"You've turned soft."

"And you haven't? You care for Michiru." He considered her unreadable expression. "Or am I wrong?"

Haruka stared at the ceiling. "I do care about her, it's just that… I'm at the crossroads. The life I had ended with that crash, I have a new start and it's up to me where I go from here."

"Do you want to travel wherever it is you're going alone?"

"I don't know." She was honest. "I need to think about it."

Daiki grimaced. "You sound like Say. Take my advice, don't screw around. The girl deserves better than that. Make up your mind one way or the other and don't dilly dally on it."

Haruka did not answer. She was flexing her muscles trying to figure out if she could get up yet. Deciding to take her chances later she turned to Daiki. "What of Michiru?"

Daiki was quiet for a while. "Michiru tried everything she could to bring you back, but we both know how stubborn you are. She read to you a lot, hoping that you would hear. She even started playing violin again."

"I heard her play. Only I didn't think it was her."

"Yeah, she switched hands. She said that despite the therapy and despite the fact that her hand is fully functional again, she can't play with those fingers, so she switched hands. It took her a while, but she's been playing every day for months, you can barely tell the difference anymore."

"She hasn't played in a while."

"How do you know?"

"I've been in this weird state of semi-consciousness for a while. I'd open my eyes for a little bit and then fall asleep again, but I sort of knew what was going on. It took me a while to fully wake up, talk and move, but that's how I know she wasn't here for a while. Ichiro's the only one who stops by every day."

Daiki shifted uncomfortably. "I better call Say, she probably needs to run tests or something on you. I mean you can't just be in a coma for eleven months and then wake up one day and be the same way you used to.

"I'm not." She did not particularly want to share with him the effort it took to sit and talk, she was too proud for that. "As I said, things have been coming to me gradually. You just weren't here to see it."

"I'm sorry, I can't quite show up at Wada's place every day. Sayuri visits you once a week, I come as often as I can."

"And Michiru?" It did not escape her that he was avoiding answering that question.

"She had a relapse. She's in rehab."


	35. The Bottle

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated "M" for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

**Chapter 35**

**The Bottle**

"And Michiru?"

"She had a relapse, she's in rehab."

Whatever reaction Daiki was waiting for was not there. As a matter of fact, there was no reaction at all. He moved closer to the edge of the couch. "Did you hear what I said?"

"I'm recovering, not deaf."

He raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"And what?"

"Oh I don't know, I was just expecting some sort of a reaction to the news."

"I'll let you know when I get one."

"Haruka -"

"Save it. What's she on?"

"She started drinking, that's all. She couldn't cope anymore, but you know Wada, he has no patience for shit like that, so he threw her in a rehab."

"Neither do I."

"Listen, she sat by your side for almost a year, don't make any rush judgments. Everything that happened is your fault, don't misplace the blame on her." Daiki looked at her familiar stubborn expression and sighed internally. "Listen, you need to rest. I'm gonna go to work, I'll let Sayuri know that you're awake."

"Sure."

"Please don't do anything stupid." She silently glared at him in response. Daiki stood up and took another long look at the woman that was miraculously awake. Miraculously alive. "I'll come back in the evening."

"Okay."

**x x x**

After Michiru returned to the mansion, she took her post at Haruka's side. For the first few hours she constantly checked the monitors, checked the position of Haruka's hands, watched her eyelids. She waited for some kind of change. Any change. She was hoping that those long lashes would flutter and Haruka would wake up. She did not.

Despite having a room next door, Michiru spent the first week on the loveseat in Haruka's room. Sayuri dragged her out for meals, if only to avoid being alone with Ichiro. She still harbored anger at the situation. Michiru understood and was happy that Sayuri was there, in case something changed, in case Haruka needed medical attention.

Two weeks went by and absolutely nothing changed. Michiru was curled up in a chair, watching the even rise and fall of Haruka's chest.

"This isn't healthy."

She looked in the direction of the quiet voice. Sayuri stood in the door. Michiru shook her head and returned back to her favorite activity.

"Michiru, I've had patients like this before. As terrible as it sounds, some of them never wake up. Those who do may take time. Long time. There is no need for you to sit here twenty-four hours a day. It's not good for you."

"Let me decide what is and what isn't good for me. If you came here to lecture me, then please leave… and don't ever say that she won't wake up. She will."

Sayuri pursed her lips and bit her tongue. She could only imagine what Michiru was going through and it was not her place to give advice. She walked up to the offended woman and handed her a book.

"What's this?"

"Some people say that coma patients can hear you. Read to her, at least that will occupy your time. There is a whole library downstairs."

"I know." Michiru shivered at her recollection of that room. The last image of the library that forever etched in her memory was that of Yasu laying in a pool of blood. She never wanted to set foot in that room again.

"It might be even better if you played to her. She likes your music."

Michiru stared at the doctor. "Did you forget that my fingers were broken?"

"And? Are you going to cry about it for the rest of your life or will you do something about it?"

"Excuse me?"

"Come on, Michiru. I know you've been through a lot, but there is nothing physically stopping you from playing the violin anymore. It's only because you're afraid to do it. If you don't care to do it for yourself, do it for someone you love."

Michiru only shook her head. Sayuri sighed and left the room. Left alone in her mausoleum, Michiru slowly flexed her left hand. On the surface, it looked like a perfectly functioning hand, but she knew that she would never be able to restore the skill level she used to have. Her agility was lost forever.

Michiru brushed off a tear that slowly slid down her cheek and opened the book. If it would entertain Haruka, she would read out loud. It was not like she had anything better to do.

**x x x**

Large drops of rain pounded on the window. The downpour threatened to break the glass and rip the leaves off of the trees outside. Michiru set the book down and walked to the large pane. The last couple of days have been unseasonably cold, but more so they were depressing. She stood there, listening to the monotonous beeping of the machines she was used to by now and the rhythmic song of the rain. She wanted to cry, wanted her tears to spill as easily as the water fell from the sky, except that she no longer could. It has been the longest month of her life. Longer than when she was fighting with her addiction. At least then Haruka was around. Now Michiru felt like their life together may have been just a dream. She wrapped the cardigan she was wearing tighter and looked at her sleeping lover.

Haruka's oxygen mask was gone, replaced by a tube, but everything else remained the same. It has been the same for a month. With the exception of the times when Haruka was moved for hygienic purposes, she remained in the same position. Michiru lost count to the number of books she read in the past two weeks, they only seemed to make her believe that she was existing in a different universe. Sometimes she was not able to tell what was reality and what was fiction. Every day she wished Haruka's accident would have been fictional. A story she read in a book and put it away. Then she would be able to return to her girlfriend who was as well as ever. Yet, every book Michiru put aside lay next to the unconscious woman.

She could not do it anymore. She needed a break. Michiru walked out of the room and went to the one next door. The room where she has been sleeping for the past week, having given up on the uncomfortable sofa. Under the bed rested a case that used to hold the violin Michiru's father gave her. The Stradivarius rested in it now. Michiru pulled it out and set it on the bed. She unlocked the case and traced her fingers over the polished surface of the violin. After a few moments of hesitation, she grabbed the instrument and the bow and went back to Haruka's room.

Her chin rested comfortably on the edge of the violin, she raised the bow and lowered it gingerly to the strings. The fingers of her left hand could not catch up with her mind. The sound she produced hurt her own hearing. Michiru bit on her lower lip and tried again. Her fingers did not hurt, they just felt like they did not belong to her. Her mind was telling them to move in a certain way and they would not. Like there was a vacuum between the brain signal and the muscle that was supposed to execute the function. Tears of frustration streamed down her cheeks. If the violin she was holding was not as expensive as it was, she would have thrown it out of the window and into the pouring rain.

Though tempted to give up every time she tried it, Michiru kept picking up the violin every day and trying to play. As weeks went by and nothing improved, Michiru switched her hands. There are not that many left-handed violinists in the world, a lot less so of those who have been right-handed and then switched their hands. To Michiru, it felt like she was playing for the first time again. When she started to play the violin, she did so for her father, then she practiced like crazy when he passed away. Learning the technique anew next to her comatose girlfriend felt strangely familiar and absolutely unknown at the same time.

The physical and emotional exhaustion finally caught up with her. After months of relentless practice, Michiru was able to play quite well, but it was not good enough. She used to be a violin prodigy, now she simply was someone who played well. She could not take it anymore. Not the music, not the woman who still lay in bed without any changes, not the house she was jailed in. Frustrated, Michiru walked into the library for the first time in eight months. There, on the side, sat a cart with heavy liquors. Ichiro liked to reduce stress in the evenings when he was going over the events of the day. Michiru found that she did not have to wait until the evening.

**x x x**

"Do you want to see her?"

Daiki shook his head. "I have to go back."

Sayuri narrowed her eyes. "Is that the only reason?"

He looked out of the window of his official SUV at the numerous guards who watched him carefully. He no longer cared for them, it has been far too long to do so anymore.

"I'll come in when I pick you up." With every passing week the hope he originally had disappeared, leaving nothing but an empty space. It was painful to look at Haruka's still body, but he would not admit it, even to Sayuri.

She gave him another sideways glance and opened the door. "Okay. I'll see you tonight then."

"Yeah."

Sayuri watched him drive away and shook her head. She had a pretty good idea about how he felt, but if he did not want to share it, she was not going to force it out of him. Sayuri made her way upstairs to her patient's room. She moved out of the mansion after the first three months, but visited Haruka every week. At this point, it was more so for Michiru's sake. She was worried about the violinist who worked herself to the point of exhaustion and never left the mansion. It was not good for anyone's psyche.

"Michiru?" Sayuri entered the room and found Michiru napping on the loveseat. The windows were wide open, allowing the fresh late spring air to come in. Sayuri smiled and checked her patient. After she was done, she sat down next to the sleeping younger woman and gently touched her shoulder. "Michiru?"

"Hmm?" She rubbed her eyes. "Say. How are you?"

"I'm good, how about you?"

"Oh, I'm wonderful. The weather is great, we're enjoying the fresh air. Maybe we'll go for a walk in the garden later on."

"We?" Sayuri furrowed her brow.

"Yeah… Haruka and I."

Sayuri put a hand on Michiru's forehead. It did not feel warm. "Michiru, what's going on?"

"Whadda you mean?" Michiru sat up and Sayuri had to move away.

"Are you drunk?"

"Whaaat? Nah, I was just having a very good dream."

"Michiru, don't lie to me. You're slurring your words and you reek of alcohol."

Michiru got up and walked to the window. "Fine, fine, I had a drink, so what?"

"It's ten in the morning, Michiru."

"So? Does time matter when you're here all day long?"

Sayuri looked around the room, but did not find any glasses or bottles. "Michiru, why don't we go do something together? Do you want to go shopping? We can watch a movie? Something else?"

"No, no, no. I can't. What if she wakes up? I need to be here."

"Michiru, you've been saying this for over nine months. You can't do this. Come on, we'll have someone watch her. If she wakes up, they'll give us a call."

"I can't do that Sayuri. You know that."

"Michiru -"

"STOP! Stop telling me what to do!"

Sayuri just stood there, helpless, knowing that the woman who became her friend was in trouble and she could not do anything to help her. They had the same recurring argument every week. Sayuri tried to get Michiru out of the room, out of the mansion, and Michiru screamed that Sayuri was heartless and could care less about Haruka. It was not the case, it was just that Sayuri wanted to help the living and was not sure which realm Haruka was in anymore. It has been too long for her medical taste. She was the first one to give up. At the conclusion of the fourth month.

**x x x**

Over the period of the next month, Sayuri helplessly watched as Michiru drank more and more. She did not know what to do. Persuasion did not work, Sayuri also knew Michiru's past history of dependency. She was worried that at some point alcohol would no longer be enough. She talked about it with Daiki, but he was even more helpless than she was. He had no relationship with Michiru. Desperate, Sayuri turned to the last person on her list.

"Come in."

"Sorry to bother you." She walked inside the library.

Ichiro shrugged her apology off. "What's going on?"

Sayuri shifted her weight, still unsure that she was doing the right thing. "Michiru has been drinking quite heavily. I was wondering if you could talk to her. Maybe she'd listen to you."

"I'm sorry, she's what?"

"She's been drinking."

The look Ichiro gave her made Sayuri regret coming to him.

"Didn't she have a drug problem before?"

"She did."

"I'll take care of it."

"What are you going to do?" She felt a cold vise creep on the inside.

"I'll talk to her."

"Thank you."

"Yeah."

Sayuri watched him for another moment, the feeling of distrust washing over her, then left the library. She truly hoped that Michiru would listen to him. For her own sake.

**x x x**

Ichiro watched the door to the library close behind Sayuri in deep thought. He stopped by Haruka's room every day, but he did not have time to watch or take care of Michiru. He did owe it to Haruka to make sure that her girlfriend was not handicapped in any way at the end of the day, though. He got up and made his way upstairs.

It was just past noon. Haruka lay in bed the same way she always did, Michiru was reading a book. In silence. She looked up as Ichiro barged into the room.

"Hi."

"Have you had anything to drink today?" He stopped right in front of her.

"I had a cup of tea." She smiled at him.

"Don't bullshit me, you know what I'm talking about."

"I have no -"

He did not let her finish. He grabbed her elbow and yanked Michiru to her feet. Her breath smelled of whiskey. He let go of her arm and walked to her room. Michiru followed.

"What do you think you're doing? This is my room!"

Ichiro looked around the room and did not see anything suspicious. "This is my house." He opened the armoire and found what he was looking for. Bottles replaced clothes. Empty bottles of all sorts of alcohol and a half-empty bottle of whiskey. He closed the door shut and turned to the woman standing behind him. The minute his eyes fell on her she looked like a little lamb. To Michiru, it was as though she was looking in Haruka's face. It had the same expression, the same expression as when Michiru was in Haruka's house, closed in a room, detoxing.

Ichiro grabbed her upper arm and dragged her out with him.

"You're hurting me." The only response she got was tightening of his grip. "Where are we going?"

He did not respond again, making his way to the front door. As they made their way down the stairs, Michiru panicked.

"You can't kick me out! Haruka needs me… I have to be with her… I have to be by her side."

Ichiro stopped suddenly and made Michiru face him. "What Haru needs is someone who can take care of her when she wakes up, not someone she has to take care of. You're a fucking mess. The last thing I want Haruka to see when she wakes up is her drug-induced girlfriend."

"Alcohol is not a drug!"

"Like hell it isn't. It's not a drug for normal people, for you, it's a gateway to drugs."

"You can't do this."

"Watch me." Without letting her go, he opened the door and walked outside. "Get me a car." He threw at one of his men. In a few minutes he and Michiru were sitting in the back of the Mercedes. He gave address to the driver and turned to the woman who was desperately trying to free herself. "If you don't stop this, I will hurt you."

Michiru was going to respond, but his black bottomless eyes sobered her up. She sat still and looked out of the window. "Where are you taking me?"

"I'm taking you to a private rehab clinic. They will let you out when you're clean and not a day earlier."

The clinic he took her to dealt with drug addicts, which did not include alcoholics. Ichiro's main concern was that alcohol would no longer be enough at some point, so he put Michiru there. It did not take much to convince the staff to keep her there until she worked out her issues without the need of a spirit.

Two weeks after Michiru entered rehab, Haruka woke up.

**x x x**

After Daiki left, Haruka sat in bed for a while, feeling completely drained of energy. She closed her eyes and thought of everything she learned. She felt like she slept for a few hours, and yet she knew that she missed eleven months of her life. Nothing was the same anymore. She brushed her long hair to the side and pulled out the catheter and the IV. She waited for the blood to stop flowing from the small incision site in her vein and slowly hang her feet off of the edge of the bed. She stood up and had to catch herself against the wall and the bed to prevent falling. Swearing profusely and forcing the dizziness away, she tried to move towards the bathroom, only to fall right back down again.

"What the hell are you doing?"

She felt strong arms support her shaky frame. "Walking."

"Either you get in that bed yourself or I will carry you there."

"You don't scare me." She smiled at his half-annoyed half-amused face. "Come on, Ichi, help me out here. I haven't taken a shower in almost a year."

"And how is it that you want me to help, exactly?"

"Fill the bathtub and help me get to it?"

"Only if you sit here until its ready."

"Fine."

He helped her into a chair and filled the tub.

"You didn't seem surprised." She spoke up loudly.

"Sanu let me know on his way out." Ichiro answered from the bathroom. He came back and gave her an assessing look. "You look exhausted. Do you want me to carry you?"

"I'm not an invalid."

"No. You just woke up from eleven months in a coma." His sarcastic tone pierced through her.

"It's degrading."

He walked up to her and crouched to her eye level. "I have no one else to take care of. Can you indulge me?"

With every fiber in her body Haruka wanted to say no. Her pride has never allowed her to be taken care of. However, she knew perfectly well that she would not even have enough energy to wash her own hair. "Fine, but don't get used to it."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He picked her up like she weighed nothing and carried her to the bathroom. Ichiro carefully lowered her in the tub and then looked at the wet gown she was wearing. They looked at each other at the same time and he saw the hesitation in her eyes. "Is there anything I haven't seen there before?"

"I'd hope not."

He pulled the gown off and she relaxed in the warm soapy water. It felt heavenly to Haruka. Most importantly, her weightless body was easier to move in the water. She sighed contently and closed her eyes. Ichiro chuckled and took his socks off. He then rolled up his pants and sat on the counter behind her head, lowering his feet in the water. He picked up a bottle of shampoo and gently massaged it into her scalp.

"Your hair is so long."

"Yeah. The longest I've ever had."

"Are you going to cut it?"

"Can you picture me with long hair?"

"Why do I need to picture it? I can see it."

"Doesn't quite fit my image."

"No, it doesn't."

A shrill of a phone interrupted their conversation.

"Just ignore it." He rinsed her hair and got another handful of shampoo. The phone rang again.

"Pick it up, I'm not going anywhere."

He wiped his hand on the pants and pulled the phone out of his pocket. Checking the caller ID, he grimaced and put it on speaker.

"What?" He set the phone to his side and returned to his previous task.

"_Wada-sama, we've got a problem. The Hong Kong mafia is stepping on our heels."_

"Isn't that why I got you out of that group, Foron? Take care of them."

"_With all due respect, Wada-sama, I'm in no position to take the lead on that."_

"Why not? You're my right hand."

"_I- I'm not sure that we're equipped to take care of that group. Resist, certainly, but take care of?"_

"Foron." The tone of Ichiro's voice changed from business-like indifference to warning. "We took care of a rival clan without much preparation just a year ago, deal with that nuisance. You don't have to bother with the marionettes, just chop the top off."

"_He's still in Hong Kong and it's hard to get to him."_

"Then use his rivals to help you." Haruka bit her tongue a second too late. She turned her head to Ichiro and mouthed: "I'm sorry."

He cocked an eyebrow at her, listening to the static on the other end. "Do what she said. Get the rivals to help us out. We'll eliminate their competitor and we can negotiate; they can take the place at the top of Hong Kong mafia, provided that they answer to us. That's why your expertise will be most appropriate Foron, it's your native soil, after all."

"_Yes, Wada-sama."_ The voice was a lot more strained than before. The call disconnected and Ichiro pulled on the long strands of hair, wrapping them around his fists.

"I want you to consider staying here with me."

Haruka looked at him again, this time, surprised. "In what capacity?"

Ichiro shrugged. "In whatever capacity you'd like. I have no qualms marrying you if it takes that, but I'd rather just have you as my partner."

"What the hell has happened to you men in the past eleven months? I don't have any brain damage, Ichi, I won't ever marry you, what the fuck?" She moved away from him, facing him completely. He let the wet hair slide out of his hands and looked her in the eyes.

"You misunderstood what I said. I have no desire to marry you myself, but I want you to stay by my side. You're the only person I have left who I can trust and I could use your help running this joint."

Haruka rubbed her temples. "How is that any more sane than me marrying you? I don't approve of most of the things you do and you want me to become part of a yakuza clan? Are you out of your god damn mind?"

"Your criticism aside, you participated in my business conversation freely just now. Your idea on the spot was much better than those the idiots that work for me come up with after careful consideration."

"My idea on the spot and my big mouth already got me in trouble with your right hand."

"He won't be a problem and if he becomes one, he'll be eliminated. He is very much replaceable."

Haruka snorted. "Ichiro, as much as I appreciate your offer, I can't do it. I'll brain storm with you and let you unburden yourself any day, but don't ask me to become a part of your clan."

He let out a deep sigh. "I had to try."

"So no hard feelings?"

"Nah." He gestured for her. "Come on, I have to finish it."

She relaxed back at the end of the tub and he finished washing her hair. He handed her a sponge and a bar of soap and got out of the tub. "I'm gonna get you something to wear. Let me know if you need help."

"Thanks. I think I can manage." Even if she could not, she would never let him help her that much.

He came back a few minutes later with a cotton yakata and a large towel. Ichiro helped Haruka rinse herself off and then wrapped her in the towel. She skeptically looked at the clothing garment that sat on the counter.

"Long hair and yakata, ne?"

Ichiro smiled lopsidedly. "It's a whole new you."

"For now."

He helped her change and carried her back to the bedroom.

"What the hell are you two doing?"

Ichiro turned towards the door, with Haruka still in his hands. Sayuri stood in the opening with her hands on her hips. "Why is she out of bed?"

"But mom, I needed a bath." Haruka pouted as Ichiro sat her back on the bed.

"I'm not your mother, I'm your doctor." Sayuri put her medical case at the end of the bed and opened it up. She came as soon as she was able to get out of the hospital. She had to see Haruka to believe that she was awake.

"I'll come back when you're done." Ichiro left the room.

Sayuri still did not believe what she was seeing.

"I'm not a ghost." Haruka smiled at the bewildered doctor.

"Hardly. You look like a ghost of Haruka I know."

"Thanks for the compliment, Sayuri, what would I do without you?"

Sayuri smiled and got to her exam. She was listening to the steady rhythm of Haruka's heart when an even wider smile spread on her lips. "Just wait until Michiru finds out. She'll be ecstatic."

"Michiru is not ready to come out of rehab yet."

The stethoscope froze midair. "What are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is that you will not tell Michiru that I'm awake."

"Tell me that this is because you want to do so yourself."

Haruka looked away. "I haven't decided what I want to do yet. It is in Michiru's best interests to get rid of her addictions either way."

"H-haruka…"

"Abe-sensei, let me remind you that you are my doctor and my condition is something you cannot share with others without my consent. Do not test me. I may have been out for a while, but I'm still the same person you know. The world and everyone living in it may have changed in the past eleven months, but I didn't."


	36. The End

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated "M" for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

**Chapter 36**

**The End**

Rings of smoke slowly drifted away from Sayuri's face. She watched them disappear and slowly brought the cigarette to her mouth. Inhaling deeply, she made more rings and watched them just like she has been doing for the past hour.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" Daiki took the cigarette out of her hand and put it in the ashtray.

Sayuri folded her arms and watched the white fluffy clouds above her head instead. She was sitting on a wooden swing attached to the side of the porch of her new house. It was her favorite place, somewhere she could sit and just think, while slowly swinging and watching the sky.

"Sayuri?" Daiki sighed and sat down next to her, wrapping his hand around her shoulders. "What's eating you up?"

"Do you have to ask?"

"Do you want me to talk to her again?"

"It's pointless. How many times have you tried already?"

He shrugged. "Apparently not enough. She'll come to her senses."

"She is in her senses, Dai. The is Tenoh Haruka I remember. Cold, merciless, uncaring, calculating."

"Any other adjectives?" They sat in silence for a while, listening to katydids. "Haruka you knew at the club is just a facade. Haruka you've met when you helped Michiru is the real deal."

Sayuri shook her head slowly. "If that was the case... Haruka who dated Michiru would have ran to the clinic the day she woke up, despite her inability to run. She definitely would not have waited as long as she has."

"Haruka has a lot of issues." Daiki ignored her snort. "Her mother left her at the hospital right after she was born. My uncle married a foreigner and our traditional family never accepted that. They tried so hard to fit in, but couldn't. She gave birth to Haruka and left her at the hospital, probably thinking that it would be better for the kid not to live in her hell. My uncle could not take the undying criticism anymore, so he started drinking every day. A month later he shot himself. His wife was the one to find him. She used the same gun and blew her own brains out. I was the next lucky visitor to their death chamber. It scarred me for life, made me hate my family and try to fix the world. That's how I ended up at the Academy, only to find out that the world was beyond saving. Now imagine being left alone from birth and living with only a hope of finding your parents. Haruka bounced from one foster home to another, from one orphanage no another, eventually choosing to live on the streets. She stayed alive and taught herself quite well. She did it all to find her parents. Lucky me, I had to tell her that they've been dead her whole life. She thinks that her father buckled under pressure because of alcohol and her mother followed him because she was too weak. I don't know how close to reality this is, but who cares? You see, addiction and weakness are two things she can't stand because she's afraid of them. She's afraid to get attached to someone who may be taken away from her by the same evils that took away her parents. That's why she's hiding behind a front again."

"Michiru isn't weak. Quite the opposite. She stayed by her side this whole time, Dai. She was the only one who still believed. Her and Wada, but he's just… Wada. Michiru tried to avenge her death when she thought Haruka was killed, a weak person would never be able to do that. She's not weak. She just snapped. She took too much on herself and snapped, that's expected of anyone in her position."

"You don't have to argue your case before me, counsel. I'm not a shrink, Say, I don't know what to do or how to help. All I can say is that Haruka has to figure this out on her own."

**x x x  
**

"You seem to be doing much better."

"Please, stop insulting me and run at a normal pace." Haruka caught up to Ichiro and the two continued their mild-paced jog.

"This is how I run."

"You don't run, I know that. You don't have to babysit me, I've told you many times."

"But I enjoy this time in the morning with you. Besides, I never go to public parks otherwise."

"There is a good reason for why that's the case." She jerked her head in the direction of a black Mercedes that was slowly moving parallel to their path.

Ichiro shrugged. "I doubt someone would want to assault me in a public location."

Haruka snorted. "I don't."

"It's as much for your protection as it is for mine. You never know if someone learned that you're alive. That's why we have to be here at this ungodly hour in a first place." Ichiro was not fond of getting up at four every day, but complained rarely.

Haruka ran to the nearest bench and sat down. Her legs were slightly trembling from the combination of adrenalin and exhaustion. She popped open her water bottle and gulped the cool liquid. Ichiro joined her, grabbing the bottle away.

"Come with me."

Ichiro spat the water out on the grass. "What?"

"You heard me. Come with me. Let's disappear. Somewhere where no one knows who we are, what our past history is. Let's start a life from the new slate."

"Are you sure you're asking the right person?"

She looked him in the eyes. "This is the only chance you get, I'll never ask you again."

"Where is it that you're inviting me to go?"

"Sweden."

"Sweden? Why Sweden? They'll extradite you if anyone ever finds out that you're alive and in Sweden."

"That's where disappearing part comes in."

"Why Sweden?"

"That's where my mother was from. It's the only side of the family I know nothing of and don't hate. Who knows, maybe I have a cute cousin."

"Thanks for the offer, both of them, but you know I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"I like what I do, Haru. I don't know life outside the one I'm living, it's too late for me." He moved strands of hair out of her eyes. "But it's not too late for you."

"Okay." She looked away so that he would not see the disappointment in her eyes.

"You know, Michiru is ready to be released."

She got up and started walking towards the car. "Don't change the subject. You don't need to feel obligated to plug the hole. I declined your offer to become part of your clan, you declined my offer to become part of my family. We're even."

"You don't even know if you have a cousin." Ichiro tried to laugh it off, but Haruka did not even smile. They got in the car and he looked at her stubborn features. "I don't know if I can hold her at the clinic any longer. She's been there for two and a half months. She's clean. She has a right to leave."

"Just give me a week."

"What will happen in a week?"

"I'll have my ticket to Sweden."

**x x x  
**

The keypad hummed as the last number was correctly put in. Haruka opened the door and stepped inside. As soon as the door closed behind her she took the sunglasses off and put her hair up in a ponytail. Hair touching her shoulders and the back of her neck irritated her. She could not wait to cut it off, but wanted to do so when she was out of the country.

The house looked exactly the way she left it. Albeit covered in a thick layer of dust. There was also no car parked in the garage. She habitually reached into the pocket of her jeans and took out a photograph. She used to carry the photograph of her parents to remind her what her goal was, it was her dearest treasure. Now she carried the photograph of her mangled car, a reminder of how lucky she was to be alive. Her new goal was to stay that way. Alive and free.

Haruka walked downstairs and opened her closet. There was absolutely nothing there she could not live without. As a matter of fact, she could have taken a taxi to the airport that moment and there would not be one material thing she would miss not having. With the exception of the photograph she was about to get. To put it in the same pocket as the new one. Her own little private collection. Perhaps a few toys as well. She walked out of the closet and opened the secret drawer on the wall. Underneath her gun lay a laminated photograph of her parents. She needed it to find out about her mother. At least she told herself that that was why she needed to have it.

The weight of the gun in her hands brought Haruka out of her reverie. So many memories were associated with this house, some of the more recent ones with that gun. Her eyes found the door to the bathroom. She remembered Michiru sitting in the shower like it was yesterday. Haruka traced the shape of her toy. She wished she could take her Beretta with her. Too bad guns are not allowed on the planes. Too bad guns make people ask questions.

"New life, Haruka. You won't need guns in your new life. No guns, no fast cars, and no raking." She looked at her gun again and shook her head. "Who am I kidding?"

Haruka put the Beretta behind her belt and walked upstairs. She stopped to look at the city above the bay. Of all things she was leaving behind she would miss this view the most. Not the house, not the furniture, not the bike. The view. She let a long sigh out and left her home forever.

**x x x  
**

"Any particular reason why we're having this feast?" Daiki looked pointedly at the long table full of different dishes. Only himself, Sayuri, Haruka, and Ichiro sat at the table.

Haruka looked at the man sitting to her right and then at her cousin sitting across from her. "He'll never admit to it, but it's his birthday."

Sayuri graced Ichiro with a rare smile. "Happy Birthday."

"Thank you." He elbowed his neighbor who laughed in response.

Haruka pulled a box from the folds of her kimono. "Here, Happy Birthday."

He cocked an eyebrow. "I thought you wearing a kimono was my birthday present."

"Yeah, this is just something small to go along with it."

Ichiro untied the midnight blue ribbon that matched Haruka's kimono and opened the box. Inside lay a single key.

"Is this to your heart?"

They both burst out laughing. "Almost. It's to my house. I want you to have it for when you need to go and reflect on something in solitude."

Ichiro for once was at a loss of words. He knew exactly what she meant and how much it meant to both of them. He could not bring himself to reply, so he cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Did you book your flight yet?"

"I'll do that after dinner." Haruka glanced at the other side of the table very briefly.

"Don't."

"Why not?" He got her full attention.

"Just use my plane. It's safer that way."

She thought about it for a moment and nodded in acceptance. "Thanks. That will help."

"Where are you going?" Daiki put his utensils down.

Haruka sighed internally and prepared herself for the worst. There was a reason why she delayed saying this for as long as she has. "I'm moving out of the country."

"What?"

"Where?"

Sayuri and Daiki asked almost in unison.

Haruka ignored Sayuri's question and answered Daiki's. "I think it would be better if you didn't know. Just in case."

"Just in case of what?"

She shrugged noncommittally. "I'll let you know when it's safe. In the meanwhile we can maintain correspondence electronically."

Daiki was going to say something else but thought better of it. Sayuri did not afford Haruka that luxury. "When are you leaving?"

Haruka shrugged again. "I guess whenever Ichi is not flying." She looked at him and he indicated that he did not have any plans to fly any time soon. "Tomorrow or the day after."

Sayuri grabbed the napkin that lay in her lap and threw it angrily on the table. "I can't believe you. I'm sorry I ever thought that you could possibly have feelings for someone. Only a cold-hearted bitch like you could leave someone who cares so much behind and never think twice about it."

Haruka sat her chopsticks down and looked up at the furious doctor. "Says the woman who denied a man who was madly in love with her. Twice."

Sayuri's eyes turned into slits. "My history with Daiki is quite different from yours and Michiru's. Don't even compare the two. What has she ever done to you? Has she cheated on you? Has she put your life in danger? No, but you have. You're the rotten part of that relationship, not Michiru. All she ever did was suffer because of you. She lost her control, she lost her talent, she lost years of her life, worrying about you, and she almost lost her life avenging you. Grow up, Haruka. Otherwise you'll live a pathetic life and die alone."

She turned around and left, not wanting to stay in that house any longer than necessary. The image of Ichiro and Haruka sitting together like they were made Sayuri think that under other circumstances they would have made a perfect couple. In her view, they were one and the same.

Daiki got up and put his napkin next to his half-full plate. "Happy Birthday, Ichiro." He turned to Haruka and looked her in the eyes. "Sayuri and I are getting married on Saturday. Small ceremony, only family. You're the only family I've got, kid." He turned around and followed his fiancée.

"Congratulations, that went well. Ouch." Ichiro rubbed his tender side.

"Let's get drunk." Haruka moved her plate away and reached for the sake.

"Saturday is only three days away, you know. You could stop by and then head to the airport. The plane won't leave without you."

"I've never been a fan of weddings." She poured the liquor in their glasses.

"Have you ever been to one?"

"Nope."

"Oh, man, there are so many things in life you haven't seen."

"Trust me, wedding is not one of those I'll miss not seeing."

Ichiro sighed and downed the drink. "Why don't we just get drunk and not talk?"

**x x x  
**

It was quiet. Too quiet. Was this supposed to bring serenity to people? She tapped her fingers on the counter impatiently, checking the time again. It was five after nine. The sound of footsteps at a distance made her even more impatient.

"I'm sorry, there is no smoking inside."

Sayuri threw the polite receptionist a killer look and put the cigarette she was about to light up back in the package. "How much longer will it take?"

The receptionist smiled again. "I will let you know as soon as she's ready to see you."

Sayuri tightened her jaw and fastened her tapping. The receptionist looked at her hand pointedly. "What, tapping is not allowed here either?"

The receptionist smiled and Sayuri barely contained herself. She has been there for five minutes and she was sick of that place already.

"Abe-sensei?"

She turned to see a nurse waiting by a door.

"Please follow me."

Sayuri did as she was told. She walked through a narrow hallway into the interior courtyard. A number of people dressed in relaxed clothing were hanging out around the Japanese garden. A woman sat by the pond with a sketchbook. Sayuri smiled and nodded her thanks to the nurse. She walked up behind the woman and sat down next to her.

"Morning sunshine."

"Sayuri!" Michiru put her sketchbook down and hugged her friend. "Why haven't you come before? It's been so long."

"I know. I know, I'm sorry." She searched for words that would explain that Sayuri did not know where Michiru was in the first two weeks and was prohibited to visit her after Haruka woke up, even when she found out where Michiru was. Sayuri's eyes found the sketch of the reflection of the vegetation in the pond. The watercolor painting was beautiful, even unfinished. "I see you found a new calling."

Michiru smiled. "I had nothing else to do. It was this or losing my mind completely."

"Well, I'd say that you picked the right one. How have you been feeling?"

"Good. All things considered." Michiru wrapped her hands around her legs which did not go unnoticed by Sayuri. "Do you know when he will let me out?"

"He can't hold you prisoner. You can leave whenever you want, you know that, right?"

Michiru shook her head. "Are we talking about the same person? He may not have used the same barbaric method as Haruka, but I can't get up and walk out of that door. You think I haven't tried? They won't let me out until he says so. Even my mother doesn't know where I am."

"Are you ready to leave?"

Michiru looked up in excitement, but then grew serious. "Why the sudden interest in getting me out?"

"Michiru -"

"No, no, no. Sayuri, you have to be honest with me." She got up to her feet. "I've been here for ten weeks. I counted every day, all seventy of them. Seventy days away from Haruka and not once did you come to visit. Why now?"

Sayuri picked up the sketch and stood up as well. "Haruka came out of her coma."

"W-what?" Michiru's eyes doubled in size. She placed a hand on her mouth as tears of happiness streamed down her cheeks. "When?"

Sayuri looked right in the blue watery eyes. "Two months ago."

Michiru's hand fell to her side. "Did she lose her memory?"

"No."

"Did Ichiro keep my location away from her?"

"No."

"Then I don't… I don't understand."

"Neither do I." Sayuri put a hand on Michiru's shoulder. "All I know is that she's leaving the country today or tomorrow."

Michiru just stared at Sayuri in complete disbelief. She prayed silently to wake up. This was a nightmare, it could not have been real. Haruka loved her. She may not have ever said so, but Michiru felt it. How could she just leave without her?

"Is she still at the Mansion?"

"I think so."

"Take me there."

Sayuri nodded. She got what she came for, she only hoped now that two things happened: Haruka came to her senses and the staff of the clinic released Michiru with Sayuri's signature as her doctor. She would not handle another encounter with the yakuza she hated so much.

**x x x  
**

His head was splitting. He did not even open his eyes, yet he knew that it would be one of the worst hangovers he has had in years. Ever since him and Haruka had that disagreement. There was a noise in a distance and it made him use whatever energy he could gather to get up as opposed to falling into the depths of sleep once more. Something was going on and it needed his attention. Ichiro threw his feet over the edge of the sofa and sat up. He heard a low moan coming from another couch and looked to his left.

Haruka was cured up in a ball with her head between both of her hands. Ichiro grabbed a bell to ring for someone to bring them aspirin but then thought better of it. Bells did not go well with headaches.

"Whose fan-fucking-tastic idea was it to get wasted?" Her voice was barely audible.

"This time, it's all yours."

"Shit, I was hoping for someone else to blame." Haruka moved her arm off of her face and squinted at the daylight that filled the living room. "Please turn off the sun."

"I'll get us something for the headache."

"You're an angel."

"That's a first."

They both scrambled to their feet and went in opposite directions: Ichiro for the door and Haruka for the windows. She closed the blinds shut and breathed out in relief.

"Wada-sama, I'm sorry to bother you, but she demanded your audience and would not listen to reason."

"For the hundredth time, let go of my arm."

Haruka froze in her spot at the familiar voice.

"I'll take care of her. You go get some kind of remedy from hangover and bring it for two."

"Yes, Wada-sama."

Michiru looked at the man who was obviously in pain and smiled in satisfaction. Maybe he would know how she felt, just a little bit. "Where is she?"

"Where is who?"

"Don't play games with me, Wada. I am through with you. You think you can just run my life? Put me away and forget about me? I have social status and connections, maybe less than you, but still rather significant. Do not make an enemy out of me, I will dedicate my life to ruining yours."

"I'm so scared, my knees are shaking. Thankfully your life won't be too long since you have a habit to self-destruct."

"You -"

"Stop it."

Michiru froze halfway through the slap she was about to deliver and looked around the room. Ichiro stood in front of her, there was a blonde woman in a kimono standing by the window, but she did not see anyone else. She did, however hear Haruka's voice.

"He helped you. You should be thankful."

Michiru watched in awe as the woman turned around and revealed her girlfriend. Her very different girlfriend. Her hair was long and fell freely down her back. She was wearing a midnight blue kimono void of any print. Haruka was the most feminine Michiru has ever seen her and it took her breath away. At least for a moment before her anger returned.

"Thankful? I should be thankful? He held me prisoner at a rehab facility for drag addicts. All I did was drink! And you… You… how could you? I've been waiting every day, Haruka… every day; it's been more than a year now. How can you just toss me aside and forget about me?"

"Could you lower your voice down?" Ichiro sat back on the couch.

"If you don't like the level of my voice, you're free to leave. This is between Haruka and I. As a matter of fact, I insist that you do."

"Michiru… stop yelling." Haruka rubbed her pounding temples. "If you want an explanation, you need to calm the hell down."

"Oh no, I'm beyond calming down. I've calmed down after I went on a suicide mission to kill Yasu. I've calmed down after I thought you died while I was watching and you didn't. I've even calmed down after watching you lay motionless for months. But don't you dare ask me to calm down when I just found out that the girlfriend I've been praying for is alive and well, has been for two months, and forgot to mention it to me. More that that, she did not even bother to acknowledge my existence before fleeing the country. What the hell is wrong with you?" Tears ran down Michiru's face as she struggled to speak and not break into loud sobs. She thought of what she was going to say to Haruka during the ride, but it all went right out of her mind as she saw her standing by the window. Feelings just poured out.

"Are you done now?"

"You tell me, Haruka. Are we done now?"

"I wasn't the one who said it."

"Don't play word games with me. Just lay it out, I at least deserve that. You owe me at least that."

"I don't owe you anything. I told you from day one that I don't do relationships, I told you from the beginning that I don't have patience with addicts, and the foolish acts you commit are those of your own choosing."

Michiru dried her face with her shaking hands and raised her head high. "I asked for one thing and you couldn't even do that. You know what, Haruka, you don't deserve me. I deserve better than you. In the past two years I went from an all time high to an all time low in my life, and it all happened around you. I've never had problems before. You have a lot of baggage you carry and whether you know this or not, you unload it on those you 'don't have relationships with.' I'm done. Find someone else to blame. Have a nice life."

Michiru stumbled out of the room and down the hallway. One of the guards who brought her in was waiting nearby. He reached his hand out towards her visibly unstable frame.

"Don't even think of touching me!"

He withdrew his hand and silently followed her out of the premises.

**x x x  
**

They both stood or sat in complete silence, listening to the pounding in their ears. Finally, Haruka turned to the window and finished her task of closing the blinds.

"Haru…"

"I don't need to hear it from you."

"But you were -"

"Ichiro, if you say another word, I will fly out today."

He threw his head backwards and rested it on the back of the couch. He was the only one who knew Haruka's real plans. Since last night. Plans that were crushed by a stupid argument brought on by a misunderstanding.

"I'm gonna kill that bitch."

"Just so we're on the same page, who are you referring to?"

"Abe. She's the one who ruined this whole thing. She always puts her nose where it doesn't belong."

"No. Abe is getting married the day after tomorrow. She'll be family, Ichi. That makes her untouchable."

He grimaced. "What are you going to do?"

She shrugged. "Same thing I said I would do earlier. Leave the country."

**x x x  
**

The wedding took place in a small secluded temple outside of Tokyo. In addition to the newlyweds and the temple staff only Sayuri's parents, her brother, Michiru, Haruka, and Ichiro were present. Michiru came because Sayuri was her only friend. She was dressed in a beautiful light blue and white kimono that brought out the color of her eyes. Both her look and her posture had an air of royalty. She was not going to let anybody bring her down anymore.

Haruka came because she felt that she owed it to Daiki. She too was wearing a traditional kimono, only hers was much more subdued and void of unnecessary color. Her long hair was pulled in a tight bun. Ichiro stood by her side, she was the only reason he came. He knew how much she was hurting, despite her indifferent front. He needed to be there for her.

The ceremony went smoothly, despite the uncomfortable undercurrents felt by the whole party. Haruka never looked at Michiru, Michiru never looked at Haruka. Both were too proud and too hurt to admit to their mistakes. Sayuri avoided Haruka and Ichiro, only accepting their congratulations and distancing herself from them afterward. Daiki stayed behind as his wife disappeared in the garden with her friend and family.

"I'm sorry, she'll get over this."

Haruka shrugged. "It doesn't matter, Dai. So long as you're happy."

He smiled at her. "I'm happy, kid. Thank you for being here." She nodded. "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay for the meal?"

She gave him a kind smile. "I've darkened your day as it is. Just enjoy the rest of it."

"Have a safe flight. Keep in touch."

"I will."

They shared a long hug, for the first time in their lives not really wanting to let go of each other, despite their differences. Haruka finally made the first move and stepped back. Ichiro and Daiki said their goodbyes and Daiki went to find his new family.

"What do you want to do for the rest of the day?" Ichiro wrapped his hand around her waist, feeling more than seeing that she was about to collapse.

"Let's just watch the city. Like we used to. You can talk and I will listen."

"But we've been talking every day, Haru."

"You just talk and I will listen."

He looked at her in concern, watched her blink the tears away and walked her to the car. He opened the door for her and kissed her on the temple before helping her get in. "I'll talk Haru, for as long as you want me to."

**x x x  
**

They sat on the side of the hill side by side until the sunset. Haruka did not utter a word and Ichiro felt like he has told her every story of his life she did not know as of yet. He was afraid to stop talking though, knowing that it was the only kind of help she would allow him to give. Something to take her mind off of the pain that was tearing her apart. He just wished he could say something to change her mind, but knew that it would only make things worse.

"Come on, let's go, you're exhausted."

"I wish you were my brother."

He looked at her for a long moment. "What would that have changed? To me you're closer than the sister I had ever was. You're family Haru, even if we're not related by blood. Just remember that."

She put her head on his shoulder. "There were times in my life when I wished that I had an older brother. I thought that maybe when I found my parents I would find out that I had siblings. I didn't know that I'm all alone in this world."

"That's not true. You have Sanu and you will always have me. The rest is up to you."

"I can't just go and say that I'm sorry… I've never been good with words. I couldn't even tell her that I love her. How pathetic is that?"

"It's not as much pathetic as it is characteristic of you. You are who you are, shaped by your past. You're not going to change. If she truly loves you she has to understand that. I've told her that before, when she was at the hospital. She said that she knew who you are. If she does, she'll figure it out."

Haruka shook her head. "No, she's as proud as I am and I hurt her feelings. She'll stay away just to prove that she's better off without me. Her royal highness Kaioh Michiru. Riding the high horse of society once again."

"Then do something. It doesn't have to be an apology. In the meanwhile, let's go home before I have to carry you again."

"I'm not that weak."

He looked at her form that was now fully leaning against him. "Yes, you are. Weak, miserable and addicted to my company. All those evils you hate, within yourself."

**x x x  
**

Michiru was utterly exhausted by the end of the day. It was not so much the wedding and the celebration that followed, it was the emotional torture that she withstood during the ceremony. She felt like it lasted for ages, trying to ignore the familiar presence nearby, trying to prove to herself that she could live without Haruka, that she could be happy.

She walked inside the house to find her mother sitting on the couch in the dark. "What are you doing?"

"I'm waiting for you. I was worried." Eiko turned on a lamp and stood up.

"Why? I'm not going to go and get drunk or high. I'm not a child, mother."

"That's not what I was worried about and to me you will always be my child, sweetie." She walked up to her daughter and placed a hand on her cheek. "Michiru, I lost you for a year there and I don't want to ever lose you again, no matter how temporary. I love you and I want you to be happy."

Michiru fought the onslaught of tears. "Thanks, mom."

Eiko smiled at the rare address. "If you need anything, I mean it, let me know."

"Okay." Michiru hugged her mother and turned to the stairs.

"Michiru?"

"Hmm?"

"A package was delivered for you earlier. It's on your bed."

"Thanks."

Michiru forced herself not to run up the stairs. Instead, she walked up to her bedroom and locked the door behind herself. She flipped the light switch on and her eyes instantly darted to the bed. On it lay the violin case. Michiru's initial reaction was a strong desire to pick it up and throw it out of her window. She no longer cared how rare or expensive it was. That violin was partially the reason why she started drinking. Partially the reason why she lost everything she cared for at the moment. Namely, Haruka.

Shaking the urge away, Michiru walked to the bed and opened the case. She did not know yet if she would ever play the instrument again, but she wanted to give it one last look before she shoved it deep under her bed. On top of the violin lay an envelope with Wada insignia. Michiru took it out and tore the side off. A single sheet of paper fell out along with another object that made a noise of metal hitting the hardwood floor underneath Michiru's feet. She ignored the sound and picked up the white sheet.

"_Last chance. I'm not good with this and you, of all people, should have known. Apparently it runs in the family. The luck Daiki and I share, that is. I admit that I didn't know what I wanted to do when I came out of the coma. Your relapse made me doubt everything I felt. I needed time to figure out what I wanted to do in life, at least I trust you understand that losing everything your life was is hard enough. I had to figure out how I wanted to live my life. My new life. I did. I figured out that I wanted to move away and start a new story. I intended to include you in it. _

_I needed time to organize a few things, but most of all, I wanted to get back in shape. You needed time to get clean. I needed time to be able to so much as walk again. I was miserable and the last thing I wanted to do was be near you - very few people can handle me at my worst and I did not feel like you deserved it after everything you've done._

_I was intending to come to you on Friday. I wanted us to go to this wedding together. I wanted you to come with me. But you can't force it out of me. Not by yelling and screaming at me first thing in the morning. So there you go. This isn't an apology. You don't have to apologize either._

_Last chance. I'm leaving tomorrow 9:00 in the morning. Private strip at the airport. The Wada jet. You can come or you can stay. The choice is yours. I can't say it in any other words. If you know me like you claim to, you should understand._

_TH"_

Ultimatum? She gave her an ultimatum? Michiru threw the offending letter in the trash bin. Then she went on all fours to find the other object that fell out. She found it under the bed. Characteristically of Haruka, she did show her feelings with actions better than with words. Michiru only wished the words did not hurt as much as they did. She wished prior actions did not hurt as much as they did. Mistakes of the past weighed heavily against the possibility of a future in Michiru's heart. The choice was hers.


	37. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Note: This is rated "M" for a reason. If you have issues with coarse language, girl on girl action and substance abuse references, do not indulge yourself in this.

**Epilogue**

It was a very warm day in late September. The sun reflected off of the pavement and the large white plane, basking her in its rays. Haruka could not wait to get inside the air-conditioned space.

"Are you ready?" Ichiro looked at her and then the plane.

Haruka was ready. She took care of everything there was. There was not a trace of Tenoh Haruka or any of her aliases ever living in Japan. Aside from the gravestone above an empty grave. The only property she kept was the house she gifted to Ichiro. The only possessions she took where her favorite weapons form the collection in her apartment that rested in a case aboard the plane and the two photographs that were in the back pocket of her jeans. She said her goodbyes. If it was hard to say them to Daiki and Hiro, it felt devastating to say it to the man who was like a brother to her.

"Haru, you're not going to another universe. Settle in, I'll come to visit you next month." He handed her a small phone. "This is the same kind governments use, it's untraceable and works anywhere around the world. You can call me every day. I sure as hell will."

They both smiled, giving each other courage. "If you change your mind, you're always welcome to come back."

She cocked an eyebrow. "You're always welcome to come live with me too."

They both nodded at the unlikely possibilities. "Okay. Go on. These airport scenes are much too melodramatic for my taste."

She smiled again. "You're right. They are." She gave him a tight embrace which he returned and headed to the plane.

Ichiro watched her climb up the steps and disappear inside his jet. It was strange, he never felt this sort of pain before. No one he cared for has ever left. Not of their own volition anyway. He was about to get in his car when he saw a woman running towards the plane. He signaled to his crew to wait. "Kaioh-san?"

Eiko was out of breath. She moved the large suitcase she was carrying behind closer and sat on top of it. "Hi, I hear there is an almost empty plane departing… I was wondering if I can get a seat."

Ichiro cocked his head to the side and looked at the plane.

**x x x  
**

The cold air blew in her face as soon as Haruka disappeared inside the plane and she smiled in relief. It felt heavenly. Maybe other things did not go as well as she wished, but at least she was not burning in hell anymore. Not physically. She nodded to the pilot who she met earlier and headed for the seating area. Never in her life has she flown alone. This time would not be an exception. She stared at the woman sitting comfortably in one of the wide seats and sipping on some bubbly.

"You know, same-sex marriage is not legal in Japan." Michiru set the glass down and showed Haruka the platinum ring dazzled with aquamarines that she held between her thumb and index finger.

"It is where we're going."

"And where is that?"

"Sweden." Haruka came out of her momentary paralysis and walked up to the smaller woman, extending her hand. "May I?"

Michiru put the ring in the palm of Haruka's hand. Like any proper knight in shining armor would, Haruka went on her knee. "Will you marry me?"

Michiru smiled. "Isn't my presence here indication enough?"

"Is that a yes?"

Michiru smiled with all her teeth and shook her head. "No."

Haruka's throat turned dry as she frantically tried to find words that would not lead to another argument. "Why not?"

"Haruka, you're not used to sharing your feelings and I understand that, I do. However, you have to understand me too. Relationship is a two-way street and so far we've only been able to travel in one direction. You can't fix a problem by a hasty proposal, it doesn't resolve anything."

"It wasn't hasty, I -"

Michiru brought her index finger to Haruka's lips, silencing her mid-sentence. "I love you. I want to be with you, that's why I'm here." Michiru's finger traced the shape of Haruka's lips despite her attempt to fully concentrate on what she was saying. "Ask me again when you have no doubts that that's what you want."

"I don't -"

"You do… but that's okay. Let's just start over. Wherever it is we're going."

Haruka stared dumbly at the ring she was still holding. Rejection was not something she was used to, not that she has tried anything like this before in a similar context. She had no idea what to do with the darn thing.

"You can put it here for safekeeping for now."

Haruka's eyes rose to the hand that Michiru extended to her. Hesitantly, she put the ring on Michiru's right ring finger. It was a little big, but unlikely to fall off. Haruka was still looking at the piece of jewelry when she felt soft lips cover her own. It was all she needed to forget about all the doubts, the rejection, the uncertainty. She responded by deepening the kiss as her hand slid behind Michiru to her lower back. It oddly felt both familiar and new. Haruka wondered how many crew members were aboard the plane and what she had to do to make them stay away for a while, or for the duration of the flight.

"Oh come on, could you at least wait until you're somewhere where it's more proper."

They both froze. "Mom?" Michiru came to her senses first.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Haruka rose to her feet and stared at Eiko who was standing in front of them. It almost felt like a bad deja vu.

"You didn't think that you two can just fly into the sunset and live happily ever after, leaving me here with that terrible husband of mine, did you?" Eiko sat down across from Michiru.

"I don't think you can blackmail me into taking you with us." Haruka pointed out.

"I don't need to. This isn't your plane, and the kind man said that I can fly with you."

"Please take your seats, we're preparing for takeoff." The flight attendant stepped inside and bowed to them.

Haruka sat down between Michiru and the window and stared out. "The kind man?" Her suspicious eyes found Ichiro getting in the black Enzo as the door was sealed and the lights came on. She pulled out the phone he gave her and dialed his number.

The plane taxied towards the strip and she watched him drive to a service road that traveled parallel to the strip. They both knew the plane would win that race, but Haruka envied the enjoyment Ichiro was having at the moment.

"Yes, sister-dear?"

She ignored his antics. "Why is Eiko on the plane?"

"You didn't want to be alone. Now you're not. You've got your own family. Good for you."

"Ichi-"

"Have a safe flight, Haru." He disconnected the phone and she watched him race down the road until the plane took off and the Enzo became a dot that soon disappeared. She turned to the two women who were watching her closely.

Michiru passed the champagne glass around. "Here, to new life."

"Michiru, it's only nine in the morning." Haruka growled from her seat.

"Good thing it's still night in Sweden, then." She smiled at her love and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Don't worry, it's non-alcoholic."

**x x x**

On the ground, Ichiro watched as the plane gained elevation and disappeared through the white clouds. He wondered if he made the right choice. Sure he did not know life outside of the one he lived, but neither did Haruka. It did not require such a drastic step to change someone's life. Maybe he would give it another thought. For now, he would just plan to visit in a couple of weeks. He too did not want to be alone.

FIN


End file.
